Perfect Dreams
by lunaticshadow
Summary: Spock and Skye are going out in space. But will they end up on the same ship? And who is the mystery alien who wants Skye's invention? What will he do to her? Spock/OC. M-rating means M-rating.
1. Bribes, touches & dressing up

**All rights to those who own Star Trek. I wish I was one of them.**

**All original characters belong to me.**

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the continuation of my story 'Perfect Writing'. I hope that you'll enjoy this one as much as you did the other. Can you give me 20 reviews for this first chapter?

Pretty please ;)

Enjoy!

---

Chapter 1 – Bribes, touches & dressing up

---

Time had flown by so fast the last three-four months; it was already time to celebrate the New Year of 2262.

The weather was grey and cold, only 7 degrees Celsius, rain clouds hovered over the city, threatening to release their load of cold water on the people below. It had been raining on and off for over a week, the sun had only made a few rare appearances, and only for a few minutes every time.

The libraries were empty of senior students, and the other students had gone home over the holidays, as the seniors were the only ones who had to stay on campus for the graduation party/ball.

The graduation ball was something like a dog show, the students were evaluated by the Admirals and Captains who attended, looking them over and asking final questions, before the assignment for each new graduate was decided.

Every senior officer had the chance to request any graduate to be assigned to their ship, hoping to get the latest genius fresh from the Academy and take some credit when their new crew-member made their ship look better than the others.

It was actually a bit childish, but grown men had to have something to look forward to, since there was less excitement on terra firma, than in the unexplored parts of space.

Most seniors could expect to be randomly put on different ships where they were needed, but it was completely different for Cadet Skye Archer.

Or rather; Lieutenant Skye Archer.

Her accomplishment in creating a portable cloaking device, made her get on a list for promotion before graduation, and the Academy board had voted in favor for a promotion.

An accomplishment that could take the Federation into a new era must be recognized. They could maybe stand a chance against the Klingon war birds now, when they could build a ship to be used with the cloaking matrix. As for now, the small device was kept in secure quarters, waiting to be examined and duplicated.

The ship that Lieutenant Archer would end up on would get the primary prototype to use freely during missions when it was necessary to have a person cloaked.

All bigger starships had put forward a request to have her join them as a part of their engineering crew. Some Captains were even bold enough to approach her with promises of large quarters, an own lab to continue developing her cloaking device, and even trying to bribe her to choose their ship. Skye found herself spending the second and third week of September dodging every Captain or senior officer she saw on the Academy, as they seemed to be on the lookout for her.

It came to a point when Skye marched to Admiral Barnett's office and asked him angrily to make them stop approaching her, she still had tests to study for at that time and felt stressed when she had to dodge and hide from all higher officers.

The next day every Captain avoided her like the plague, except Captain Kirk, who had not even considered asking Lieutenant Archer if she wished to join his crew. He just found it fun to torture her with questions about hers and Spock's relationship, when no one else was listening of course. He didn't want to have Spock's anger over him again.

But he got Spock's anger over him, in the beginning of October, as he had caught Skye in a stressful time around one of her tests in quantum mechanics. Kirk had discovered her sitting in a private part of the study hall and had invited himself over and begun to ask her about Spock's cold 'bedside performances'. Adding to this 'teasing', Kirk had been slightly drunk, which equaled a Captain who didn't think before he spoke.

In her bad mood, Skye had picked up her communication-PADD and typed a message to Spock.

_K'diwa, your Captain is bugging me. He is moderately drunk and questions your ability to satisfy me in bed. I have tried to make him leave, and I do not wish to leave my place of study, as Emiko has company over this afternoon. I did say that I could handle him, but I feel that at this point I would get serious repercussions if I knocked him out in the study hall. Could you find some time and assist me?_

_Skye._

Fifteen minutes later of listening to Kirk and his idiotic attempts of joking, Skye sighed in relief as she saw Spock walk towards her table with long strides.

Spock moved quickly to stand behind Kirk and laid his hand on his shoulder.

"Captain, I do not hope that you are disturbing the Lieutenant in her studies?" Pressing down, making Kirk to attempt move away from the light pain, he got Jim's attention.

"Spock! I didn't know that you were in the area." He tried to laugh, but it came out strained.

"I wasn't, but when you use your ability to 'tease' the Lieutenant at any time of your opportunity, I have an obligation to make you cease your inappropriate behavior."

"I was just playing around." He smiled goofily and put his hands up as to say that he yielded.

"Remember, my father has left for Vulcan, and the Lieutenant may not be inclined to assist you, should I be 'emotionally compromised' once more."

"I think I have some things to do, like Captainy stuff, since we'll be leaving soon."

"I believe you do, Captain." Spock let Kirk go and saw him stumble out from the study hall.

"Thank you Commander, he was not leaving me alone."

"I am glad to be of assistance, Lieutenant." The last word was spoken with pride.

"I hope I did not pull you away from something important?"

"No, I was just correcting some of your fellow classmate's tests in Vulcan History, and I have only a few left and they will not take me long to correct."

"Good." She smiled gently to him.

"I shall leave you to your studies. Good day Lieutenant." He bowed slightly and turned to leave.

"Commander." Skye rose from her seat and stepped up to him. "I would like to show you something, if you have time to spare?"

He nodded and followed her to the back of the study hall, where a small library was found to assist the students, if they needed additional information.

There were no students in the small library at the moment, and Skye led them to the section of Ancient Extraterrestrial History, which was rarely visited anymore. Turning to face Spock, Skye smiled, closed the distance between them and kissed him.

"I have missed you, _k'diwa_." She murmured against his lips.

Spock was intrigued by her display of affection in public, or at least in semi-public, as they were alone in a part of a public building. He actually felt a bit disobedient and he enjoyed it.

"I have missed your affections too, _t'hy'la_." He pulled her close and buried his nose in the crook of her neck, inhaling her sweet scent.

She hugged him and then withdrew a bit, meeting his eyes.

"I feel much better now, is your Captain really that annoying all the time?"

"When he is bored, he will respond with a juvenile action and pester the crew. He did not do anything to you, did he?"

"No, just nagging on and on how cold you must be in bed and that I must be frustrated by now."

"Frustrated?"

"Yes, sexually frustrated…" She whispered in his ear. "Due to your cold performances, as he put it. But I dare to say that you leave me wanting instead of frustrated… I think your Captain would be very jealous of you if he knew what passion and warmth you had inside you, beneath your perfect logic." Pulling him close, by grabbing hold of his jacket, Skye initiated a kiss filled with hunger and her passion for him.

Moving her around, making her back press into a wall, he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his hips, pressing their centers together. He could feel the warmth radiate from her, as her short skirt had journeyed up higher when she wrapped her legs around him.

Breathing heavily, Spock withdrew for a brief second watching the desire in her eyes before initiating another, equally searing, kiss.

Forgetting time and place, the couple began to demand more and more, until…

THUMP!

Spock and Skye flew apart, she standing behind him, correcting her outfit, while he looked around to determine the origin of the loud sound. It appeared that a student had stumbled and fallen with a load of books in his hands falling to the floor with him, causing the commotion.

Skye reached up behind him and whispered.

"Now I'm sexually frustrated…" She blew a puff of air over his ear and trailed her hand over his lower back, coming to stand next to him.

"I must agree." Spock answered and glanced down on her.

"Have to suffer through it; I have to study for my test tomorrow." She blew a raspberry and walked away, checking so no one had seen them together. Adding a more pronounced sway to her hips, she smiled to herself and headed back to her desk, trying to get the erotic pictures out of her head.

Two minutes later her com-PADD announced an incoming message.

_Send me a message when your examination is over. We may have some personal time to work out any tensions you might experience after, if you should desire._

_Spock._

Her lips curved into a large smile and she licked her lips to the prospect of being in her lovers arms.

Life was good.

---

"So, have you two done it yet?"

Skye glared at her nymphomaniac for a roommate and turned her eyes back to the book she was reading.

Emiko pulled up her legs underneath her and frowned.

"Come on, you have been seeing each other for, what, four months, nearly five, unless you count the month when you started in his class."

"Emi shut it." Skye sing-sang.

Emiko had somehow put two and two together, and figured out that Skye was seeing Commander Spock in secret. Or rather, she had followed Skye one day, she was so curious to where Skye sneaked away to some evenings, and saw how Spock met her at the back door to an apartment complex and then did some research to confirm that Commander Spock lived there.

The day after, Emiko had asked Skye up front and when Skye had denied it, she had assured her friend that her lips were sealed, she would not tell anyone.

But it didn't stop her to try and pry information from Skye; it was really funny to watch her blush when they got in on the subject of sex and intimacy.

"Come on, is he cold as ice-cream then?"

"No, he just wants me to be certain that I want to be close with him." Skye sighed and put her book down.

It was now mid-December and she had written her final test in quantum chemistry yesterday. The only thing left was to wait for the results and start packing her stuff.

"Vulcan's seem to be true gentlemen, sorry, aliens." She poked her tongue out and grinned.

"He is, but he can also be very intense." Skye bent her knees and rested her head on them. She sighed as she thought of Spock.

"You are so bitten by the love-bug." Emiko laughed and shook her head. "So, what are you going to wear?"

"Wear, what, when?"

Emiko stretched out her hand and snapped up an old-fashioned letter from Skye's nightstand and waved it in the air.

Opening the letter she began to read out loud:

_You are hereby invited to Star Fleet Academy Graduation Ball_

_31__st__ of December, 2261, 7pm_

_The Grand Hall, San Francisco _

_To celebrate the New Year of 2262 and all graduates of Star Fleet Academy_

_Formal attire required_

"'Formal attire', means a pretty long dress." Emiko almost jumped of joy of the prospect of playing 'dress up Skye to her teeth'

"I don't like dresses, they're too showing."

"Come on, don't you find the idea of dressing up and seduce your Vulcan a bit thrilling?"

"He won't react in public, he's Vulcan." She rose and walked to her wardrobe and pulled out a hanger. "And besides, I'm an officer now, which means I have to wear this."

She held out a dress uniform, a red one, which showed that she belonged to engineering. It covered her upper body, long tight sleeves, the skirt ended just beneath her bum and the neckline dipped just barely five centimeters diagonally to her left side, almost showing her collarbone, but yet it didn't show.

With the uniform came a pair of black boots, which ended at her calves and only had about 1.5 inch heels and quite comfortable to run in, if need arose.

"Come on!" Emiko looked horrified at the uniform. "Is that 'formal attire'?"

"For an officer, yes. I have to be a role model, to live up to my expectations. Or else I might get demoted." She put back the dress uniform in the wardrobe and closed the door firmly.

She then glared at Emiko with her most threatening look and said:

"If my dress uniform 'disappears' in time for the ball, and is replaced with something hideous of yours, then I will never speak to you again and I'll ask Doctor McCoy to make sure that your final two years here becomes pure hell."

"You can't do that!" Emiko knew that Skye didn't joke about this, but it was so unfair, as Skye was so pretty and had to wear a uniform which everyone else would wear. She should wear something flattering and beautiful.

"I can, if the uniform goes, then your easy and party filled life here goes too."

Emiko crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

"Alright." She mumbled. "But I don't like it."

---

Skye and Emiko celebrated Christmas together, their last thing together, as Skye left Earth in the beginning in January and Emiko would continue to study. Emiko would also leave for home after Christmas, and then go to Japan to visit her relatives and stay there until the next term began for her.

So they sat in their dorm, having bought dinner and talked, played games and just hung out.

Emiko cheered Skye up too, as Spock had to leave the Academy and not be able to return until the morning on the 31st, and even then it was little time for them to see each other, so they had agreed that would spend the night in Spock's quarters after the ball, trying to spend as much time as they could, if she ended up on a different ship than his.

Emiko left San Francisco four days before the ball, their farewell were filled with both tears and laughter and promises to write as often as they could.

The first day of being alone in the room, not having Emiko's non-stop talking around or her ecstatic personality, Skye packed her stuff and cleaned out the room of dirt and old things she didn't need in space.

The second day, she went into San Francisco, enjoying the city and walked through some tourist attractions and shopped a few things she needed. And for the first time, she fell in love with a pair of shoes. She had never wanted girly shoes before, but these called to her.

They were strappy dress sandals in silver metallic leather, with delicate straps crossing over her feet, creating a smoldering peep detail, wrapping over open arches to a sling-back heel strap. The heels were higher than she was used to, 3.5 inches and dangerously thin for a woman who had never walked in a pair of high-heels, but she needed them.

Entering the store, she asked for her size, tried them on and bought them without really thinking about the price. These were her shoes, her first pretty shoes and she loved them.

The third day, Skye went to a small make-up boutique outside campus and purchased some powder, blush, royal blue eye-shadow, eyeliner and mascara. The lady in the store showed her how to apply it for best results and gave Skye a pretty pink lip-gloss for free.

That evening, Skye indulged herself with a romantic movie from the 21st century called 'Pride & Prejudice', she had read the book before and found the movie almost as great. While watching the movie, she also indulged herself with chocolate covered strawberries and a glass of red wine.

After the movie, Skye thought about the next evening. She was really nervous to be going there. She would go in there alone, and most probably be accosted my Captains and senior officers who would try and woo her over to their ship.

As she had gotten offers from almost every ship in the quadrant, she wondered where she would be placed. Would they randomly pick one or would she have the option to choose a ship?

That night, Skye had trouble sleeping, not getting many hours of sleep at all and when she woke up the morning on the 31st of December, she felt tired and slow.

But she knew she had to go through with it and begun her day.

She ate breakfast in the mess hall, many of her fellow graduates were there too, and many looked like her; tired, nervous and scared shitless.

Many girls sat in groups, discussing their hair, make-up and dresses, as some had bought pretty gowns to wear and might impress on the Captains.

Skye sat by herself by one of the large windows overlooking the park. She held her com-PADD in her hand and read a short message from Spock.

_T'hy'la, I have just left New York and are on my way back to the Academy. I hope you have not been too lonely without my presence, and I am looking forward to see you tonight._

_Spock._

She smiled and thought of him, his face, his smiling eyes and his warm body. She almost could feel his soft hands move over her body, sending shivers down her spine with precisely placed kisses on her bare skin.

They had not taken their relationship to the final stage, though they both knew the other's body quite well, as both of them did not know what would happen in the future. If they mated before they knew of which ship Skye would serve on, then they might not give their full bond the time it needed to establish itself between them.

If Skye did end up on Enterprise, they would have the time to let the bond work in peace, so to speak, not putting any further stress on it than it already had.

Spock had explained to her that the bond needed time to become complete, even more now as their bond had been severed once, and to make it work, they must be in the close proximity of each other, as they both might get 'needy' while the bond settled and the only way of releasing the neediness, would be to give in and have sex. No questions asked, because if they resisted the need for too long, they could enter a false version of the blood fever, which would make them act irrationally and do whatever it took for them to get to the other.

That would not be so good if they ended up on different ships.

---

Spock sat on a plane back to San Francisco, and he was trying not to smack his seat-neighbor to unconsciousness, as he was snoring like a whole herd of cows.

Trying to find some peace, he withdrew into his mind and found a 'happy place' as Jim would have called it. His happy place was with Skye, lying next to her and drawing invisible patterns on her back. Something she had taught him as she had done it to him. And he had not grasped the fun of it, until he had tried it on her one night.

She had been lying on her back, resting comfortably next to him and his human part had wanted to touch her, but not in the arousing way, just in a caressing way and his Vulcan part had suggested to try her way of caressing him, by drawing invisible lines on her stomach and hips, as she had done it to him, and she seemed to find the process relaxing.

Monitoring her facial expression, Spock had slowly begun to lay his hand on her stomach and moving his thumb over her soft skin slowly at first. When she had made no move to show him it was uncomfortable, he had stepped it up a bit by moving just his index finger over her skin, tracing a pattern visible to his eyes only.

Skye had asked him what he was writing on her stomach, as after a while, his movements had begun to move like he was writing a text. He had answered that he had begun to write their names in the Vulcan script and from there it had progressed to write some of the few poems about emotions that existed on Vulcan.

She had laughed and reached up, laid her arms around his neck and pulled him down to a sweet kiss, telling him how cute he was and how she adored him.

He remembered responding that he failed to see this 'cuteness', he was not a pet, nor was he an infant.

"_You really are cute, Spock…"_

She had then launched an attack of touches combined with kisses, which made him think that 'cute' was not something bad to be.

Feeling the plane shake slightly and hear how the captain announced that they had entered a small storm, but it was no need to worry and that it would be a bit bumpy for a while, made Spock come out from his meditation and he discovered that they were only thirty minutes from the airport in San Francisco.

He found himself wondering what she would wear that evening. Would she be respecting her grade as an officer and wear the dress uniform, or would she show off her feminine curves?

Finding the idea of Skye in a well-fitting dress among the other Captains and officers made him feel jealousy and possessiveness; he did not want other men to ogle his future mate. But at the time being, he could not do anything about it. What if they thought her invention was due to collaboration between him and her? No, he could not risk it; she would be expelled and demoted in an instant.

Feeling how the plane began the decent; Spock prepared for landing and pushed his feelings away.

---

Skye finished up her make-up, made sure her hair stayed in one place as she shook her head lightly and slipped on her shoes. And just taking some extra hair-spray, just in case.

Pulling on her coat, she sighed and left her room, heading down to the lobby, where a taxi waited for her, courtesy of some Captain who wished her to choose his ship. It was free, so what the heck, made it cheaper for her and easier to get to the Grand Hall in the city.

While sitting there, looking out on the dark sky, she tried to imagine herself up there, among the stars and nebulas. It was hard to see that, but when she got up there, it would become real.

Arriving smoothly to the Grand Hall, she stepped out, nodding to a few classmates and walked up the long stairs to the main entrance. Giving her invitation to the doorman, she got in and headed to the coat-room, gave her coat to a young woman and got a ticket with her coat number on, which she put in her blue evening clutch.

Before stepping out from the coat-room, she glanced at herself in a mirror, adding some more lip-gloss, correcting a strand of hair and took a deep breath.

Stepping out in the big lobby, she followed the stream of guests and walked up yet another stair, which took them all to the big ball room, where they had to descend another set of stairs, to arrive to the dance-floor. The descending stairs gave all those in the room a better view of the newly arrived, and the newly arrived felt really stared at, whichever rank they might have.

That was exactly what Skye felt now, as she stepped up to the landing and began to slowly walk down to the dance-floor. She was hoping that she would not fall on her face, especially when she was not used to walk in high-heels, or wearing a pretty dress like she was now.

---

Spock could not help it, he wished to kill all the men in this room for looking at his _t'hy'la_ as if she was a piece of meat.

Why hadn't she taken her dress uniform?

---

**Hello again, you have made it through the first chapter. What did you think about it?**

**This cliffhanger (my specialties) is not as bad as they can be, right? But my guess is that you now wish to find out what kind of dress she's wearing? And which shoes she fell in love with?**

**To clarify things; Spock and Skye has not had sex/love making of any kind; they have just been 'exploring' each other and lots of kissing.**

**The next chapter might take a while to post, since I will work quite a lot this coming week, and I will work late, so don't worry if chapter 2 takes a while to get up. I won't abandon this, promise. I have made so many plans for them, and I want to complete them ;)**

**Have a great time!**

**lunatic. **


	2. Dancing and threats

**All rights to those who own Star Trek. I wish I was one of them.**

**All original characters belong to me.**

Hiya!

Back much sooner than I thought.

But I guess that you love that :P

Watch Skye's dress here; www. deviantart .com/ art/ Skye-s-ball-dress-130978292

Enjoy!

---

Chapter 2 – Dancing and threats.

---

She could hear whispers from around the room, almost drowning the soft music and making her focus on every step she took; she would not be safe until she came downstairs, then she would be safe from falling, but she would not be safe from the advancements towards her and her upcoming service on a starship.

---

"Holy smoke, I had no idea that a smart woman could be so hot!" The Captain of the _USS Defiant _exclaimed and followed the young Lieutenant with his eyes.

Spock stood a few yards away and heard his comment, and saw how a few officers nodded in agreement with him. Holding his hands in the customary position behind his back, they tightened considerably in an effort to keep his calmness.

Looking her over, he concluded that this dress was a far better fit than the one she had borrowed once from her roommate.

It was a royal-blue, foot long dress, with halter neck and an empire waist. It was made in a shimmering material, which flowed gracefully around her feet. The fabric which covered her chest was wrinkled and underneath it, blossom embroideries and shimmering white stones accented her figure. The strap around the neck was also embroidered and had white stones on it.

As she stopped in the stairs to talk with a few classmates, she moved so her back was visible to those on the dance-floor and many of the males drew a deep breath. As her dress was with a halter neck, her back was bare and the dress showed off her back nicely, as the dress showed everything from her neck down to the middle of her back. Her hair was swept up in a simple French twist, with a few strands falling down around her neck. In her ears silver ear rings with shimmering white stones dangled.

"Someone kill me now." Another Captain said softly.

'_Gladly._' Thought Spock and fixated his eyes on the man's neck.

Before he could act on his dark thought, Kirk nudged him in the side and whispered.

"She looks beautiful, Spock."

"Indeed, Captain." He turned to his friend and saw the silly grin he wore.

"Don't kill anyone, okay? You look as if you could kill anyone who dared to approach her. Like that guy."

Spock followed Jim's gaze and saw how Skye had reached the bottom of the stairs and how the Captain of the Defiant bowed to her and offered her his hand, and she accepted and was lead to the dance floor and was lead around in a slow waltz.

Spock felt how his hands tightened even more.

---

Skye felt uncomfortable in another man's arms, the Captain of the USS Defiant was not Spock, who she had seen when she walked down the stairs. He had looked rather dashing in his blue dress uniform, with all his commendations on.

The Captain spoke of how well equipped the Defiant was and how she would have an own personal lab to her disposal. He went on and on and after the dance, Skye thanked him politely and told him that she had no idea of how her assignment would be decided, she might just get shipped out to a research station and never be on a star ship at all.

She left the Captain and headed to the refreshment table and took a glass of non-alcoholic fruit punch and declined a few offers to dance, telling them she wanted to mingle for a while.

Seeing Admiral Pike by a low table, sitting in his wheel-chair and waving her over, she made her way through and greeted him.

"Admiral Pike, you're looking very dashing tonight." She smiled and reached out her hand to him, he was very gentlemanly and kissed the top of her hand.

"And I must say that you look very beautiful tonight, Lieutenant." He smiled and nodded to the chair next to him.

"Thank you." She sat down, relived that she might get some peace sitting here with the Admiral, as he didn't have a ship anymore.

"I see the vultures are after you." He nodded to a few Captains who looked at her and hesitated to approach them.

"Yes, they have been after me since September." She shook her head and took a drink, wincing, she put the glass down on the nearby table. "I think someone has spiked the punch."

"Someone always does." He chuckled and remembered his graduation ball, where half his class had been passed out due to a spiked punch.

"I'll stick with water then." She looked around the room and saw how Spock kept Kirk in place, when he tried to go after the daughter of the Andorian Ambassador. She smiled and sighed gently.

"Has Captain Kirk asked you to join his crew yet?"

"No, he is the only one who hasn't. Why?"

"If one Cadet… Lieutenant gets more than three offers from different ships and Captains, he, or she, will have the right to decide which ship…"

"I may join?" Skye stared at him in surprise. She had not known about that. This meant that she could be with Spock, but only if Captain Kirk offered her a place in his crew.

"Yes? How many ships have you been offered to join?"

Skye thought of it and began to count.

"_The Defiant, Hood, Intrepid, Lexington, Exeter _and_ the Constellation_, so six ships in total."

"Seven, if the Enterprise asks for you too." He smiled to her.

"Kirk has only buggered me about my relationship, not anything else." She shook her head; she really hoped Kirk would ask her to join his crew.

"There ya are lassie, mind honoring this Scot with a dance?" Scotty had come up to them and bowed slightly to her. "Admiral."

"Mr. Scott, I heard that the Enterprise is good to go."

"Aye, sir. After a wee bit of tinkering, I made her sound like she did before, so the lass here will see a real ship in action when she gets up there. Not those other rust-buckets that's in orbit." He sneered and looked over his shoulder and Skye saw how some other men looked sourly at Scotty. They must be chief engineers on other ships.

"Come now, Scotty, other ships aren't that bad?" Pike laughed at him. "Go on, Lieutenant, dance with the engineer, the night is still young."

"Thank you for the information, Admiral. Have a good evening." Skye nodded to him and took Scotty's hand.

"Mind your feet, lass, I'm not so good at this dancing stuff." He smiled, but led her gracefully around the floor, efficiently avoiding the Captains and the other engineers.

"Thank you Mr. …" She stopped herself when she saw his look. "… Scotty, for keeping me away from the vultures. They just want to try and bribe me to choose their ship."

"Bribe ya, lass? With what?" Scotty was surprised.

"A personal lab, bigger quarters, freedom to continue my work on the cloaking device, but I just want to be a part of crew, to be an engineer in the machine room, nothing else." Skye sighed and shook her head.

"Do ya know which ship ya gonna end up on?"

"No, as six ships had asked for me, I have a choice on which ship I want to be on, I think I can choose freely between one of those ships."

"Then ask for the Enterprise lass, I won't bribe you and I won't cut you any slacks, you'll be a part of me team." He winked at her and she laughed.

"I would, Scotty, if the Captain of the Enterprise had asked me, but he hasn't." She smiled sadly.

"That, that imbecile!" Scotty led her to the edge of the dance floor ad bowed. "Excuse me, lass. Me wrench and I have a meeting with the dear Captain's head." Then he was off and disappeared in the crowd.

Skye couldn't help but smile. Poor Kirk, an angry Scotsman was not to play with.

---

Kirk and Spock had found a quiet corner, where they could observe the room. Though Kirk observed which one of the pretty ladies he would go after.

"Captain, I suggest you stop leering at the females, as some of them seem to find you repulsive."

"Come on, Spock, I do no harm." He smiled and winked at a cute blonde, who had a shimmering white dress with golden trimming, she giggled and blushed.

"Not yet, Captain. But my guess is that you will have your head bashed in momentarily."

"How come? I haven't done anything yet." He was confused, but turned his head to where Spock looked and saw his chief engineer on the warpath, directly in pursuit of himself.

"Scotty!" Kirk smiled when the Scot approached. "What can I do for you?"

"First ya can wipe that smile off your face Captain, and then ya can tell me why you haven't asked Lieutenant Archer to join your crew." He had a grim expression on his face.

Spock was curious as to why Kirk had not asked Skye to join, and why Mr. Scott was on the warpath.

Kirk tried to not smile, and cleared his throat.

"Well, I didn't think it was necessary to ask, as she will end up on a ship were they deem her needed."

"You blubbering fool. She has gotten so many offers that she has the option to choose which ship she wants to serve on." He took a deep breath and continued. "She's been offered larger quarters, a private lab and bribes."

Scotty held up his hands in a strangling motion and growled. "Ask her to join, Captain. Or the Enterprise will never leave dock with you onboard."

Scotty stepped away and left the Captain and his Commander in thought, a big glass of whiskey was what he needed now.

Spock contemplated Mr. Scott's words for a few moments, and then he turned to Kirk.

"Captain, I wish you to elaborate on why you did not ask Lieutenant Archer to join your crew." Spock's voice was normal to anyone who didn't know him well, but Kirk did and the tone of Spock's voice and the darkening of his eyes meant that the good Commander was slightly agitated and on his way to become pissed off.

"I figured that she would be placed on a ship that most needed her, and as Enterprise is the ship which goes further away than most other ships, we would have the most need for the device and her. So I thought it was best to not pressure her more, than the other Captains already did."

"That mistake might have cost you one of the greatest engineers, Captain. I suggest you repair your mistake and ask her to join you."

"Or what? I doubt that you have anything to make me do it." He grinned; he really loved to tease his First Officer.

Spock leaned closer and said.

"If you do not offer Lieutenant Archer a position in engineering on the Enterprise, the Ambassador from Rigel IV, will be very upset when he learns that the magnificent Captain of the Enterprise, who saved his dear planet and his job, has recently deflowered his precious twin daughters – at the same night."

Spock saw how the color from Jim's face drained and became almost pale white. Laughing at him, Jim hoped that Spock was only kidding, no one could know that he had done that, or?

"I have my sources, Captain, and I must remind you that the Ambassador is five times stronger than you and has a reputation for breaking the legs of those men who might compromise his innocent daughters." Spock raised his eyebrow and let his lips curve in a small grin.

Jim gulped and remembered that the Ambassador had told them proudly of how he had stopped any man to compromise his daughters.

"Is that a threat, Spock?" He tried to laugh at his friend's shrewdness.

"No, Captain. It is a promise." Spock replied determinedly.

Jim stared at Spock and then took a deep swing of his drink, trying to get the image of how Spock stood laughing at the sidelines when the Ambassador from Rigel IV got a hold of him and broke his legs.

"I think I'll go and dance with the Lieutenant."

"You do that Captain." Spock answered in a neutral voice, but Kirk heard the underlying laughter and shook his head. Why did he always fall for the pretty ladies with fathers who could easily snap him in half?

---

Skye was dancing with Admiral Barnett and he was quite capable to lead her around the floor, and he asked her about other things than spaceships and her cloaking device. It was quite refreshing.

"I must tell you that your decision must be made before the 7th January, as most of the ships in dock will leave on the 8th."

"I understand, sir. But I do not understand why one of you failed to tell that I had a choice in the matter, after the third ship had asked for me, care to enlighten me?" She raised her eyebrow, almost in a Spock-like fashion.

"You would have been informed tomorrow, but between us, I think someone wanted you to stay out of the loop and be assigned to a research station, were you might avoid the battles that do happen in space."

"A station is also a target, and more vulnerable, as it does have limited weapons and cannot move in the same way as a spaceship, sir. I would be at risk wherever I might end up."

"Correct, Lieutenant." He sighed and then felt how someone tapped his shoulder.

"May I interrupt?" Kirk bowed to both of them, smiling, but having a weird look in his eyes.

"Don't step on her toes, Kirk." Barnett smiled and kissed Skye's hand and handed her over to Kirk.

"So, the beautiful lady is now in my hands. Whatever shall I do with her?" He grinned and swept away with her. "I know, I can compromise her virtue."

"Why don't you, Captain?" She teased.

"If I did, Spock would have my head hanging on his bedroom wall as a trophy." He nodded to his left and she saw how Spock watched them intensely.

Skye smiled at Spock and winked at him.

"When the song is over, you lead me to him, so I can talk a bit with him."

"Yes, madam." He smiled and then he got serious. "As the Captain of the Enterprise, I would like to ask you to consider joining my crew. You would get no privileges, normal quarters and follow Scotty's every demand." He looked as it was something more. "Oh, and the normal wage of a lieutenant in engineering."

"Well, Captain. You drive a hard bargain here. I have until the 7th to consider." She grinned and her eyes twinkled.

"Yep, the 8th we'll set sail and leave Earth for the continuation of our mission."

The song ended and they applauded the musicians and then Kirk led her towards Spock's corner.

Spock felt himself stand up straighter as they approached him. Skye was really beautiful tonight, the dress enhancing her curves perfectly and the light touch of make-up made her blue eyes stand out even more.

"Commander Spock, you look rather dashing in your dress uniform." Skye said as they came up to him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." He bowed to her. "You look quite fetching in your dress."

"Thank you." She blushed a little, knowing he meant it.

"I think I'll go and get some drinks, want any?" Kirk smiled and grinned at them.

"I'm fine, thank you Captain." Skye said and Spock just shook his head.

"There's a balcony over there." Kirk nodded to a back room, and left smiling.

Spock looked at Kirk, then at Skye, but she was already walking to the balcony. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw no one looking and followed Skye.

When he came out on the balcony, he saw Skye sitting on a lovers' bench, which was partially hidden by some bushes, letting them have some privacy.

"So, how was your trip?" She asked when he sat down next to her.

"Productive, but I found myself missing you. In fact, some mornings I woke up, hugging my pillow."

Skye giggled and held out her hand in the Vulcan way, two fingers together.

"I missed you too."

Spock touched his two fingers to hers and felt their connection open. He sensed her feeling when she entered the hall, how she disliked the Captains pestering, how happy she was when Pike told her something and how even happier she became when Kirk asked her to join Enterprise.

"Will you join Enterprise, _t'hy'la_?" He was hopeful.

"Yes I will, but not for our sake, though it's a perk. I join the Enterprise because I find her the ship where I can live out my dream. My perfect dream."

Spock was relieved and leaned closer to her, pressing his forehead to hers. Finding peace in being close to her, Spock sighed and pulled her close. Glancing down at her feet, he saw that they were a bit swollen.

"Are the shoes too small?"

"No, I'm not used to walk in these things. I'm gonna need a foot-bath when this is over." She lifted her left foot up in the air and the dress slid down to her knee, showing her smooth lower-leg to him.

Reaching out his hand, Spock slid his hand over her leg, moving up over her knee and under her dress. Skye stopped his hand mid-thigh and looked horrified at him.

"What are you doing?" She hissed, trying to move his hand away.

His eyes sparkled for a second with mischievousness.

"You did not appear to have any under-wear, so I was only trying to find out if you had."

Skye blushed brightly as a tomato.

"I have, but I have something called 'g-string' on. It won't show any lines, making the fabric look smooth."

"I wish to see the 'g-sting' later. I have yet encountered one."

Skye could not hold it in; she laughed really hard and almost got tears in her eyes.

"Oh, _k'diwa_, you may even take them off, if you wish." She grinned, winked at him and walked back inside.

Spock remained in his place; her unpredictable answer had made his bodily functions go on a strike and it would be very embarrassing for him to walk back in right now.

Where was a cold shower when you needed one?

---

Watching her from afar, he now knew when she would leave Earth, but not which ship she was on. But anything he had to report to his Lord must be reported.

The cloaking device had been copied for the engineers at Star Fleet base to begin to tinker with. The original prototype would be transferred to the Lieutenant the day she left orbit, which would be the 8th of January.

His Lord would be pleased to hear this; maybe after his Lord was done with the Lieutenant, he could maybe have a go with her. She looked so pretty, and he wanted to feel the softness of her hair.

She would see him now, and not ignore him anymore.

After all, he had seen her since the first day they both enlisted.

---

**Here's chapter two! Hope you liked it.**

**I know I said that this might take longer, but everything just flowed and came together.**

**The next chapter however…**

**I begin a week of hell, and I have only two days free. And I will try to write on those. Promise!**

**Please give me reviews, they make me happy and the plot bunnies thrive on them *loves***

**lunatic.**


	3. Bonding

**All rights to those who own Star Trek. I wish I was one of them.**

**All original characters belong to me.**

Enjoy.

---

Chapter 3 – Bonding

---

Getting back inside the ball-room, Spock found Skye in the arms of Doctor McCoy. They were dancing to a waltz and even though McCoy displayed a stiff posture of reluctance, Spock could see that McCoy smiled with his eyes as she tried to make him relax more. The good Doctor was amused and liked her tries to make him enjoy the dance more than he seemed to do.

Kirk stood to the side-lines and shook his head with an amused smile. Seeing Spock he grinned and waved him over.

"Bones said he didn't want to dance, two minutes later he's out there. She's good."

"He is also doing an excellent job." Spock pointed out and they saw how another man tried to dance with Skye, but McCoy said something and the man cowered away in fear. Skye's eyes shone with amusement and held back laughter as McCoy danced her back to where Kirk and Spock stood.

Beginning to laugh, Skye thanked McCoy for the dance, trying to hold back as much as she could.

"You scared him, Doctor. I think he will get psychological effects from it."

"What did you say now, Bones?" Kirk chuckled.

"Nothing, I just reminded him that the chief medical officer on his ship owed me some balls. And he does, I haven't gotten back the old baseballs I let him borrow the last time we saw each other."

Kirk laughed at the mental image of doctors exchanging human balls with each other, and Spock also seemed to be fairly amused.

"He's going to avoid the sickbay like the plague now." Skye laughed and took out a tissue from her clutch and removed moisture from her eyes.

In that moment, Spock saw her more feminine side stand out more than before. Before, Skye had been the strong girl, the more rebellious woman. Now Spock could see her more fragile side, the part of her that the primitive force in him wanted to keep safe from all kinds of harm. His inner 'caveman', as Skye would have said.

Skye saw how Spock was deep in thought, pondering over something. She was curious on what he was thinking of. He seemed to be so balanced all the time, always putting logic first and action second. But when they were alone, connected with each other's minds, he seemed to put action first, and logic second. He seemed to be freer when he was with her.

Maybe that was one of the things no one knew about Vulcans, as they were quite secretive about their lives and the intimate relations with their loved ones. They could love, but not in public.

"Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen!" The conductor of the band shouted out in the room. "Five minutes to midnight! And you know what that means; grab a member of the opposite sex and hold 'em close so they won't run away from the New Years First Kiss!!"

Kirk was jumped on by two ladies he had been flirting with on and off during the evening; the cute blonde girl and a brunette. The both ladies glared at each other and it almost came to a pulling contest, when Kirk, the gentleman he was, offered them one cheek each to kiss.

Skye stood between both Spock and Doctor McCoy, and knew she couldn't kiss Spock on the mouth in public, so she copied Kirk somewhat and took hold of each man's arm, pulling them close.

"I can't decide which one I wanna keep, so I take you both for sampling." She smiled and squeezed the hand she was holding Spock with a bit, comforting him.

Spock congratulated her for quick thinking, so they were able to share at least one small kiss among all these people. McCoy just mumbled about old fashion traditions and the stupidity about them, but Skye thought he was grateful for her keeping him away from the other ladies, who had been hovering over him tonight.

"5…4…3…2...1!"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The whole room exploded with laughter, cheers, confetti and balloons falling down from the ceiling.

Skye pressed her lips to Spock's cheek first and then McCoy's, and the latter giving her a one-armed hug, wishing her a happy new year.

She turned to Spock, rose up on her toes and whispered.

"I'm going now, I want to be home in a reasonable time, or my lover will worry." She kissed his cheek once more and moved towards the stairs were she had entered.

It took quite some time to move through the happy people, which were very intoxicated. When she reached the stairs, she got pushed back by a drunken cadet, but fell back against a strong chest and she felt his warmth seeping through his dress uniform, her dress and into her skin.

A warm breath on her ear and soft words spoken;

"I have a transport waiting outside, by the corner of the small park to the left of this building."

When she was steady on her feet, Skye glanced over her shoulder, but he was gone. Looking up the stairs, she didn't see him there either. Walking up the stairs finally, she felt relief when she got down to the lobby and felt the cool night air come in through a side window.

She walked towards the coat-room, but passed the ladies room, stopped and looked at the door with the sign of a lady in a dress. She took a step forward once more, turned abruptly and slipped into the ladies room for a minute, and then she got her coat, wrapped it up closely and headed outside.

Taking a deep breath of the cool air, she felt refreshed. The music from inside was just a murmur and the silence of the night enveloped her all over. It felt like bliss.

Letting her eyes fall to the left, she saw a small transport used mostly by the ambassadors. The transport had a small emblem on the side of the IDIC, a silver triangle with a circle around it and a diamond on top of the triangle.

The Vulcan Ambassador's transport, Spock must have asked Sarek if he could borrow it. Walking to it, a man stepped out of the transport, but it was not Spock, it was a younger Vulcan, she thought she had seen him around when she fought T'Pring and in the trial. He was one of Sarek's aides and guards on Earth.

When she got within five meters of the transport, he bowed rather deeply to her and reached out his hand for her to be led the short bit.

"_T'sai Skye._"

"Thank you." She let him lead her to the door, open it and assist her in. once the door was closed, she felt a warm hand close over her left and it was brought to warm lips.

"_K'diwa._" She smiled and turned to Spock.

"I wanted to kill a man when he laid his eyes on you, when he spoke of you." Spock said darkly and pulled her close, her back against his chest. "You are mine only."

Skye felt her heart beat faster, not from fear, but from exhilaration. Spock felt more possessive than ever, since he had yet to make his true claim on her and all those men in there had challenged him by dancing with her, trying to woo her into coming to their ships.

The transport started moving, and Skye saw the outline of the driver though a glass-pane behind him. She made a movement to the glass with her hand.

"He cannot see, nor hear us. Unless we wish for it."

"Then I have something for you, in my left coat pocket."

"A gift?" Spock let his hand slide down over her body, finding said pocket and feeling soft fabric under his fingertips.

"Sort of."

Skye turned her head to her left, seeing his reaction in the corner of her eye.

Spock pulled out a small piece of fabric, in the light from the lamp-post they passed, he saw the dark fabric shimmer, and he concluded that it was silk. The triangular piece had two thinner strings attached to it in each end, forming a kind of circle, and a narrow piece of fabric going from the middle of it, down to the point of the triangle and…

Skye saw exactly when Spock figured it out. His eyes contracted ever so slightly, his pupils widened, making his eyes look really dark and his breath hitched for a second. He almost looked frenzied when he met her gaze.

"No, I'm not wearing any."

Spock let out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding and made her face him.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I need you on edge Spock." Her voice was low and she swallowed before she continued. "I wish to begin our true bond. And you must to be on edge, almost feeling the blood fever, to initiate the first meld."

Spock was now the one to swallow hard. She wanted him to begin their bond, to feel their minds become part of each other. He had felt the need to claim her during the evening, but he had never thought she would be the one to ask for the bond to begin. It was usually the male who asked for permission to bond, she was bold and he found it refreshing.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, I… I have spoken to your father, and he sent me some information on the process." Skye met his dark eyes and laid her hand on his cheek. "It said that the first meld will only start the bonding, it will not require mating, correct?"

Spock nodded, he would let her speak as he saw her eyes flicker, signaling that she was uncertain on how to proceed.

"It will only require our minds, letting them explore each other and connect?"

"Yes." His voice was harsh and he felt how he was shaking slightly. "Do you wish for more?"

Skye shook her head.

"I want to follow your way, Spock. We can get release with other ways, if we feel the need, can't we?"

"Yes, we can…" Spock smirked broadly; Skye would be the only one seeing him like this.

The first meld would require them to open their minds to each other. This stage would begin around the age of seven for a Vulcan child, letting the two bond-mates to have a faint connection established, but it would be hidden, not present at any time, only when the Pon'farr would commence, then the bond-mates would feel each other and be drawn together.

But now, as they were not bonded in the traditional way, he must either be in the blood fever, or be on edge, as he was now, and he was slowly going over the edge, as his mind knew she would be with him for all of their lifetimes. Trying to focus, to control himself, Spock took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"It is harder than I thought…" He whispered to her.

"Shh… don't speak, just be…" She raised both her hands, pressing the first two fingers of her left against his temple and made small circles. "…_Hayal_…Feel the beating of my heart…" She took his left hand with her right and pressed it over her heart.

Gasping slightly when Spock tightened his hand over her breast, then his fingers smoothed over her nipple, making it taut and achy.

"If I am to be on edge, then you shall be there as well…" He said lowly, darkly and met her eyes with his smoldering ones.

For the remaining journey, they sat close, touching, but yet not touching. The silence was filled with tension, both knowing that they would be closer than they had ever been before.

Arriving at his apartment complex, they wasted no time when the driver opened the door for them. No one was around, so they didn't have to be careful when they walked inside. They took the elevator up to his level.

Once inside his quarters, Spock immediately moved to his small altar and lit the ceremonial candles he had for meditation. They filled the room with soft light, flickering ever so slightly when a soft breeze swept through the room.

"_Sarlah._" Spock motioned for Skye to approach the bed, standing on one side, and he on the other.

Lifting her hands up to her hair, she first removed her ear rings and placed them on the bedside table. Then she began to remove the pins holding up her hair, one pin after the other, her hair falling down, curling slightly as it had been up for a couple of hours.

Spock let his hands unbutton his cufflinks, then the top button in the collar and then the other buttons in his jacket. Shrugging the jacket off, he let it fall down behind him, not bothering to pick it up. Then he pulled off his thin undershirt, throwing it behind him as well.

Skye pulled up her dress to her knees, lifting her right foot up and placing it on the edge of the bed. Bending down, still looking Spock in the eye, seeing him gaze on her nude leg, she unclasped the small buckle on her shoe, pulling it off. Doing the same to her other shoe, she pushed them behind her and let go of her dress, covering her up again.

Feeling slight disappointment of losing sight of her soft, smooth legs, Spock wasted no time to push of his shoes and socks, beginning to unbuckle his belt and met her eyes, raising his eyebrow in a teasing manner.

She turned her back against him, looking over her shoulder, as she grasped the zipper and slowly pulled it down.

Spock realized that she wasn't wearing any bra either; she was completely nude under that soft piece of fabric.

Reaching the zipper's lowest point, Skye turned back to Spock and held the dress with one hand over her chest. Meeting his gaze, she let the dress fall down to the floor with a soft rustling sound and stood before him bared for him to see her.

Spock could never understand what he had done to deserve an intelligent and beautiful life-mate like her. She was near perfection in his Vulcan eyes, a dream come true in the eyes of his human part.

Letting go of his dress pants, he was now as naked as she was, bared for her to see him.

Moving at the same time, both of them kneeled on the bed, facing each other. Raising his right hand slowly, he moved it over her left arm, but not touching her, just hovering over her soft skin he moved over her whole upper body, ending his movements over her right cheek, meeting her eyes and seeking her approval.

Skye was breathing deeply, even though they didn't touch each other, she felt aroused by his presence alone, and the knowledge that they were to be married in the eyes of his people. And she couldn't wait for it to happen.

Nodding to him, holding up her left hand, the first two fingers pressed together, she felt his left hand do the same and touch hers.

His right hand made contact with her skin, his thumb finding the spot under her cheek bone, his index finger found the point over her eyebrow and his middle finger was placed softly above that.

Pressing softly, he entered her mind, opening his to her at the same time.

Skye saw his struggles with life, living in two worlds, not being accepted by his 'friends' on Vulcan, being told every day his father was a traitor and his mother a human whore. She felt sad and let her feelings for him embrace him, comforting him, letting him know that she would be there for him, standing by his side.

Spock saw Skye's childhood, first she was a lonely child, not playing with her friends when her mother had been through the accident and falling into a depression. Skye had to be the mother and take care of herself and her mother, taking responsibility at a young age. She had to grow up before she really had to. This reflected her throughout her sub-adult stages, as she rather concentrated on her studies than socializing with her friends. And instead of taking care of her mother, she took care of the house, as her mother found peace in the work-shop, where she could be of use.

She saw his first meeting with Kirk, how he had cheated on the Kobayashi Maru test. How McCoy had called him out of his mind, the loss of his mother, the loss of his origin, the loss of his world and a sense of losing himself. The feelings of not being enough, of not being there and of complete chaos; and there was nothing he could do about it, the logic could not be seen in all the ruins. He was a lost child, without a place to call home.

He saw her happiness when she enrolled in Star Fleet and passed the tests with ease. Her sadness when her mother accused her to live the dream meant for her, resulting in a wedge between them, which had yet to been removed, something that bothered Skye deep down.

They both felt pieces of each other's souls' exchange, making them part of each other, never to be parted again. It was a meeting of fated souls, two halves coming together as one, and finally both felt complete.

When they left the meld, they still had a feeling of still being connected, and it felt good. It was meant to be this way.

Skye felt so weak, like she had not a bone in her body that held her up. She was still swimming in the emotions from the meld, the intensity of it and the warmth she felt from Spock.

Seeing how the meld had affected Skye, Spock gently lifted her up, pulled the covers from under her and placed her on the sheets, before moving next to her, covering them up. He held her close, whispering soft words to her, feeling how the bond between them grew stronger.

Nothing could break it.

---

Skye sighed for the umpteenth time. She should have read through the info Sarek had sent her thoroughly before telling Spock that she wanted to bond with him.

She didn't regret it, but she would have been more prepared than she was on the morning after the meld. Sighing again, she went through the events that had happened.

She had been waking up, feeling the need of using the bathroom and was going to slip out of the bed and then slip back real quick. But her plan failed even the minute she had just twitched her muscles the tiniest millimeter to get her out of bed.

Spock had held her down, subconsciously, she had thought at first, since his eyes were closed and he looked like he was sleeping. So, she had waited a minute longer, and then tried to make her move.

He had actually growled at her, and held her even closer. Not letting her move at all.

Skye had then asked him to let her up, or else it would not be fun to be in a wet bed. He had let her up and she had hurried into the bathroom and done her business. While she was washing her hands, and contemplating to take a shower, Spock had opened the door, reached out his hand and said in a firm voice:

"_Sarlah._" The tone told her that he meant it and he still was on edge. So it was just to obey and keep the Vulcan happy. She gave him her hand, and he pulled her roughly to him, pressing his forehead to hers, and their bond came to life. It was stronger than last night, but it was not complete.

Leading her back to the bed, he helped her lay down and laid next to her, letting his fingers find the psi-points on her, opening their bond, almost knocking her out with the intensity.

She was able to search his mind this time, almost like an encyclopedia, and found some facts about bonding she hadn't known of; the male became very possessive after the first meld, making sure his female didn't leave him and that no other could take her from him. So for at least 2-3 days, Spock would keep her close and never leave her out from his sight.

It had now been two days since the meld; the date was now 3rd January, 2262. And Skye lay on her side with Spock's chest pressed up against her back and his arm around her waist, holding her possessively close.

"Spock… can we get out of bed?" She said softly.

A low growl in the negative came from Spock.

God, had he turned into some kind of caveman?

"I need to shower, and a fresh change of clothes. And some fresh air wouldn't hurt." The only thing she was wearing was the sheet. She was naked, and so was he, and they had been like that since the meld.

"_Rai._"

"Please?" She turned in his arms and faced him. "If I promise to come back within the hour, and I won't speak to anyone?" Skye kissed his chin, his rather rough chin, which was covered in stubble, and nuzzled him, almost purring in her tries to let him release her for a short while.

Hearing a small sigh coming from him, she felt his arms relax and she could leave his embrace. Not jumping away directly, she nuzzled him some more and kissed him softly, languidly, before slipping away, getting up from the bed.

Stretching her unused muscles, she let the sheet drop to the side and looked down at her mate.

"Thank you, _k'diwa_." She placed her hands on the bed and leaned over him, kissing him once more.

Walking to his closet, she pulled out one of his t-shirts and a pair of drawstring pants she had left behind a while ago. Pulling them on, she felt a bit better and she was one step closer to feeling really good. If she just could get back to her room, take a shower with her own shampoo and soap, get dressed with her clean clothes, then she could gladly stay with Spock for a few more days, before they had to go back to the real world.

Finding a rubber-band in the pocket of her pants, she made a messy bun of her hair, making it look like she had been training, if someone saw her. Collecting her dress and shoes, she found a pair of flip-flops on the floor, shoved in under a small table. Something she must have forgotten too. Slipping them on, she stood up, ready to leave his quarters.

"I'll be back soon, why don't you take a shower and shave while you wait for me?"

Spock didn't answer her; instead he rose from the bed, letting the sheet drop to the floor and slowly he walked up to her, eyeing her like a predator. He was defiantly not shy about being naked in her company anymore.

"I will be waiting for you, _t'hy'la_…" He said with a raspy voice, letting his hand touch her cheek softly and he leaned down and kissed her slowly, but possessively, letting her know that she was his, and she better remember it. He pulled her close, nuzzling her neck and breathing in her scent, as if she would be gone for ages instead of just one hour.

"See you in a while, _k'diwa_." She whispered and backed to the door, letting it open behind her, stepping out and looked at him, until the door closed between them.

---

Hurrying with the connections, working fast so no one would be able to detect the transmission, he was finally able to contact his master.

"Master? I am sorry you…."

"Imbecile! You are worthless to me if you can't keep to the schedule!"

"I didn't mean to, I tried to contact you, but I was almost discovered…"

"Silence!" He growled; his dark eyes glimmered dangerously in the faint light from the control panels. He was not a man to play with, as he had a reputation to kill, or severely wound, anyone who opposed him.

"What do you know?" He said after a while, enjoying seeing the sniveling spy cover in fear.

"I… I know that all ships will leave space dock on the 8th and 9th, I will be on the Enterprise, in engineering."

"Good, the newest rust-bucket must be taken care of; you think you can do that?"

"Yes, master. I will follow your orders."

"What of the device, and its maker?"

"The device will go with her to the ship of her choice. She's been asked to join every ship, but I do think she will choose the Enterprise, as she has interacted with the ship's engineer and doctor. And even the Captain has spoken to her in a friendly way."

"Good. Send me the flight plans when you know exactly which ship she will be on. We'll be waiting."

"Yes, I understand."

The transmission ended and he turned around in his chair, contemplating the information he had received. Another 'beep' and the computer announced an encrypted message, containing pictures coming in.

Letting it be decrypted, he saw a message from his spy, telling him that he might be interested in seeing the female who had accomplished the feat of making a cloaking device from scratch.

The images were being uploaded and the first showed a female in her twenties, dressed in the customary red Cadet uniform, consisting of a jacket and a skirt. He saw the long smooth legs and licked his lips as his eyes trailed over her curves.

Several more pictures followed, her dressed in uniform, during classes, outdoor expeditions, working on some technical equipment and more.

The last picture seemed to be from a beach, she was standing in the shoreline, clad only in a dark green bikini, smiling softly to the camera and waving.

Yes, he would most defiantly enjoy breaking her.

---

**Annnnd chapter 3 done. =)**

**It took a week, but I made it. *sighs* Hope there isn't too many mistakes in here.  
**

**So, what do you think? Now they are bonded and 'married' so to speak. And the bad guy is getting a lot of info from someone. Who is it? Do you have any clues?**

**Please review and give me some loving, I still have two more weeks of hell to go through. Next week I am free on Wednesday only. The other days I will work, work and work. Yey. Not.**

**Have a great day!**

**lunatic.**


	4. Space dock & Jealousy

**All rights to those who own Star Trek. I wish I was one of them.**

**All original characters belong to me.**

---

Chapter 4 – Space dock & Jealousy

---

Skye enjoyed the walk back to her room. She took deep breaths and smiled to herself as she felt the cool weather envelope her.

It was around 10 degrees Celsius, rather warm for January, but it felt really nice.

She felt a bit bad for feeling happy when she didn't have Spock hovering over her, but she needed to be left alone sometimes, if she was bothered for too long, she would eventually avoid the person cornering her and step away.

She couldn't do that with her husband, mate and life-partner. But he needed to respect her and even though he was following the ritual embedded in his mind, he had to be careful. She could ignore him, even though they were now bonded for life.

Rounding a corner, occupied with her thoughts about his whole 'cave-man' act, she bumped into a solid body and stumbled backwards, almost falling on her behind, but she caught herself and found the balance again.

"Well, well… isn't it the smart cadet, oh, I'm sorry... Lieutenant."

The last word came with a sneer, and Skye found herself facing three of her fellow graduates. One was big and burly, short untamed blond hair, and dark-blue eyes, Tristan Addams, and he was trained in security, if she remembered correctly.

Number two was Calvin McMannon, lean and well-built, dark brown eyes and long black hair in a low pony-tail; he was in her warp design class and in transporter theory, he was an engineer like her.

And the third one was Damien Vice, dark brown hair and green eyes; the one who always copied her notes, he was in most of her classes, except astrophysics, and he was also an engineer.

The one who had sneered at her was Calvin, he was like her; in the top five of every class, but as she had made the cloaking device, he had become jealous of her success, wishing it was him who got all the praise. A woman had no place in space, he thought females should stay in the home and raise the kids and serve the man when he got home from work.

"Give it a rest, McMannon." Said Damien and glared at him.

"Defending her are ya? A woman did something any man could have done, including you Vice. Aren't you pissed?"

"I am jealous yes, but she deserves it, and if you could have done it, why didn't you?"

Calvin shut up and glared at Skye.

"I don't fuck the machines like she do, they are practically her lovers." He grinned.

Skye was saddened by his words and looked down. She hated it when people took her for a complete nerd, sure she spent much time in the engineering lab, but she wanted to do something with her life, not goof around and drink and have sex with every person she met.

"Knock it off, Calvin!" Damien growled and pushed Calvin into Tristan, who held Calvin down when he tried to hit Damien.

"Enough McMannon." Tristan squeezed his arm tight around Calvin's upper arm. "She's done nothing to you, control yourself or you will be grounded on Earth."

"Let go." Calvin shook loose and stomped off, leaving a sighing Tristan behind.

"Don't let him get to you; he's just jealous he didn't come up with your idea. I'll see you around, Archer." Tristan smiled little and walked after Calvin.

Damien shook his head and sighed as he looked on the retreating form of Calvin McMannon.

"So…" Damien turned to Skye. "Which ship are you going to? I'm going to the Enterprise, and so are those two." He smiled.

Skye smiled back and answered.

"I am going there too."

"Great! Then we might work together."

"Probably, as the engine room is only that big."

Damien's PADD beeped and he looked down at it.

"Sorry, I have to run. But I'll meet you at the shuttle taking us to the ship, right?"

"Yeah, see you in a few days." She waved to him as he jogged off.

Sighing, she hoped he would do his own work on the ship and not ask her for help all the time.

Arriving at her complex, she entered her code and took the stairs up to her level. Opening her door, she looked around and felt just as empty as her room was.

Emiko's side was empty, and on her bed were all of Skye's bags, waiting to get transferred to the Enterprise. She had not notified anyone of her decision, only Spock knew and she liked it that way. She would tell Admiral Barnett tomorrow, and he would tell the other ships of her decision.

Letting herself fall down at her bed, she stared at the ceiling for a while, just letting her thoughts float away.

'_Have you not begun your shower yet?'_

Skye sat up when she heard Spock's voice echo through her mind.

'_Just concentrate on our bond, t'hy'la, and you can speak to me.'_

'_This feels strange, talking in my mind. Can we do it all the time? Like whenever we're not close?'_

'_If we focus, yes, but I would not recommend it for a long term use. As your mind is still adapting to our bond, it could damage your nervous system."_

'_I understand. I'll go and take my shower now, and pack some sleep-over stuff, if your 'cave-man' will pop out again.'_

'_I must apologize for my behavior…'_

'_It is fine, k'diwa; I should have read the materials your father sent me more closely. And besides… I like your cave-man manner, you should know, if you have read the book you borrowed…'_

Skye smiled as she felt him go silent and walked to her shower. She stripped down quickly and entered, letting the warm water cover her body.

After she had sufficiently soaked herself, she reached out for her shampoo.

'_Use the one with the scent of orange blossoms, please.'_

Spock's voice echoed once more in her mind.

'_Are you watching me?'_

'_No, I just feel your movements.'_

'_Could you close the connection, I wish to have some privacy.'_

'_As you wish.'_

Skye felt his withdrawal and sighed. She must speak with him about the limits of their bond, and also that he shouldn't use their connection to intrude on her when he wished so. Even though they were married in his customs, she still felt like they were dating and that was something they would keep them slightly apart, until she got it into her brain that they were married, mated, whatever the term was.

Turning off the shower, she dried off and walked out in the room, rummaging through her bags and finding some clean clothes; a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a cardigan. She was casual today.

Packing a smaller bag with some clothes and other articles, she was ready to spend some time again with Spock, only that she would have to tell him to back off now and then, so she could be herself.

---

The eight of January had finally arrived. It was time for all graduating cadets to leave on their first assignment to their very first ship. The whole Academy was a buzz of voices, Commanders calling out which ship each student should find, once up in orbit and aboard space dock.

Since it was not any rush to get to the ships, as it had been four years ago, they had decided that the graduates would be dropped off in the main hangar of space dock, and they would have to get to their ship in time, just like anyone else had to do in Star Fleet.

All baggage they had had been dropped off in the baggage transporter, which with the help of the Star Fleet code every Cadet had, had transported the bags to the right ship. So if there were any last minutes changes, the Cadet had to go and get the bags on the first ship, then carry the bags to the ship they were supposed to be on. A real hassle, but sometimes it happened.

Skye maneuvered around giddy cadets, nauseous cadets, calm cadets and the variety of all emotions one could have when going to a real ship for the first time. Sure, they had been in space before, on a small shuttle, to feel how space felt, and those courageous enough had been offered to take a space walk. Skye had hesitated at first, but she had done it, and it was scary and awesome at the same time.

Bumping into several people, she found her shuttle, SD1-0143/4, also called 'Sparrow', as it was written on the side of the shuttle. Shifting her shoulder bag to a better spot, she stepped onboard and found a place by a window.

Ten minutes later, the shuttle was full and the helmsman called out for everyone to fasten their seatbelts and they were ready for takeoff.

Feeling the shuttle shake slightly, it took off and left the ground. Flying at a slow and steady pace, they left the hangar and began to accelerate and go higher and higher in the atmosphere. Soon, the buildings of the Academy were so small and she could hardly see the small people down there. The sky turned darker for each second and before they knew it, they had left Earth's gravitational pull and soared in the dark space.

Earth was now a round orb of green, blue and white, glowing in the darkness of space. It was beautiful.

And she would not see that glowing orb for some time. It was quite sad.

The shuttle accelerated a bit more and came around, revealing something that was beautiful in an engineer's eyes. Space dock 1.

It looked like a small planet, with a ring around, keeping the smaller orbiting docking stations steady. On each docking station, at least one ship or more waited for departure. Small shuttles scurried around and docked with the ships and the station itself, looking like hard-working ants.

The shuttle slowed down when it came closer, and they swept by one of the docking stations, heading for an opening between two of them. Entering space dock, the shuttle touched ground and force fields came up around, letting the air pressurize and making it possible to breathe and walk out of the shuttle.

Once out of the shuttle, all passengers stepped briskly towards the exit, so the shuttle could return to Earth, picking up more passengers.

Inside space dock there were cadets, officers, workers and other personnel everywhere; so many on the move, so it was impossible to count them. Skye was marveled of the sheer size of everything, it was magnificent and indescribable to put in a few words.

Walking to an information station, she saw that every ship docked was on a list. She touched the screen where the name '_Enterprise NCC-1701'_ was written; she got all the information needed.

The Enterprise were at docking station 4-Delta, section Beta. It was scheduled to leave at 1300hours, in two hours time. The docking station was nearby, only two sections away, which would take her twenty minutes to reach, since this place was so big. It would probably take her several hours to walk around the whole place.

Getting her headings, Skye began to walk towards her destiny.

---

Many, who crossed her path, stopped for a brief second and looked the woman over. They could not believe that she could have created a cloaking device. It could not be true.

The more jealous ones, those who had barely passed classes, or barely gotten onboard the Enterprise, whispered about her.

Words floating around, whispering of cheating, flirting with the teachers, and the whole incident with Professor Kincaid, which was probably something she had started, but when word got out, she had made it seem like she was the victim, not the good professor.

Three young women, Tristan Addams and Calvin McMannon, stood in one of the bars on the space dock, having a drink before going onboard the Enterprise.

The women were in science; one nurse and two astronomer assistants. The nurse was Amie Fauxelle; the two assistants were Lynn Grey and Sheila James. They had been with Skye in 'Vulcan History' and the two latter had been in astrophysics with her too.

When they spotted Skye buying a drink from the bar, she had felt rather thirsty and stopped by the closest bar; they began to talk rather loud.

"I am so glad I got on the Enterprise with fair grades." Sheila said, flipped her long light-brown ponytail over her shoulder and looked to Lynn.

"Yes, it would be so terrible to know that someone had slept around to get decent grades." She nodded and smiled, pulling one hand over her short, brown, bob-cut.

Skye heard them, and she remembered them from her class. They had barely passed astrophysics, so they shouldn't be talking like that. Paying the vendor, she saw how she had to pass them to exit the area. Taking a deep breath, she began walking towards them, hoping they would shut up when she passed. But they didn't.

"Archer, shouldn't you be in some insignificant research station on Jupiter?" McMannon sneered and stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"I have every right to be here as you."

"No, you don't." Sheila hissed. "Just because you slept with Professor Kincaid and it wouldn't surprise me if you slept with Commander Spock too. You got abnormally high grades in his class; it seems like you like opening your legs, just as much as you like opening books."

Skye gasped and felt how she got teary-eyed. They accused her for sleeping around with officers just so she could get high grades. Sure, she had a relationship with Spock, but they haven't slept with each other.

"Yeah, and as much as Chief Engineer Scott has hovered around you, even dancing with you at the ball, I guess you have slept with him too. And probably Captain Kirk, as he danced quite close to you and he was rather friendly with you, just so you could secure a place on the Enterprise." Lynn added and glared at Skye. "Your little device is fake; no one can make one from scratch, not without exaggerating."

Skye felt like a knife had been inserted and twisted in her guts, was it really like that people saw her? Like a whore and a liar?

She had to get away from there, get away from their glares and their accusations. It was word against word and they were too wrapped up in their jealousy.

Skye pushed Lynn out of her way and headed for the exit of the bar. When she passed her, Sheila reached out her foot quickly, making contact with Skye's lower left leg. She fell down on the cool floor, her right knee smashed down first and made a dull thud as it connected with the floor. She hit her chin in the floor, and bit her lip in the process. Skye winced from the pain and gasped.

Ignoring the throbbing pain, she rose up slowly, supported by another bar patron who had been next to her. She thanked him with a nod, took a napkin from a nearby table and pressed it to her mouth as she had felt the metallic taste of blood.

Not looking back at the evil-doers, Skye begun to walk away.

She limped rather heavily, but she ignored it, she wanted to get out of there. She didn't want to finish this with a fight, as they were only jealous of her success. They didn't know her, if they had, they would have known that she didn't sleep around with her superiors.

Knowing that the first stop she had to make onboard Enterprise was the sickbay, she moved as quickly as she could, not seeing the patrons shaking their heads and glaring at Sheila.

---

Spock had arrived to space dock with the last shuttle, making sure no one was left on Earth. He was now leisurely strolling among cadets towards Enterprise's docking station, helping a few of his students to find the direction.

When he came upon the bar closest to where Enterprise was docked, he spotted Skye and he directed his course to intercept hers. But when he saw how two females stopped her and looked at her with hatred in their eyes, and he felt how their bond was darkened by the sadness she felt, he slowed his steps and placed himself hidden, but able to hear their words to her.

He was angered and disgusted of their suggestions. They accused her of being a prostitute.

The final drop were when the female who started all this tripped Skye, making her fall hard to the floor and her lip split open and when she walked away she limped really bad.

When Skye had left the area, he stepped forward and cleared his throat next to the cadets.

"Commander Spock, sir." They stood up and nodded to him.

"The Enterprise only chooses qualified cadets to board her, not those who cannot work in teams, nor those who feels the need to disrespect another member of the crew, just because she has done something you have not managed to do. Jealousy has been the downfall of many civilizations, and the beginning of many wars."

Spock glared at each of them, feeling very protective of Skye.

"And to accuse officers of having intimate relationships with Lieutenant Archer, your superior officers from this day forward, that is something I suggest you to refrain from." He turned to Nurse Fauxelle and Ensign Addams.

"You two should be equally ashamed, as you did nothing to stop this. Both of you are a disgrace of the work you are supposed to do. I will report this incident to your superiors and make sure that you will get repercussions for it. But you two, Ensign Grey and Ensign James, as you are under my command, I will make certain that you learn something from this. Dismissed and report for duty at once, your assignment begins now."

All five cadets picked up their bags and rushed from the bar and to the ship.

Spock took a deep breath and steadied himself, before he continued to the Enterprise.

---

Interesting…

This was something his master would like to find out about.

The Vulcan defended her, quite intensely, almost as if he felt something for her…

But Vulcan's can't feel?

It would probably be hard for his master to break her if she was involved with the Vulcan. He must follow her more closely, see if they were involved and if they were… then his master would love to see the Vulcan crumble.

---

**I love being evil. =D**

**Hope you liked this chapter ;)**

**Thanks to smithsbabe65 for reviving my plot-bunnies.**

**Please review.**


	5. A New Home, Repairs & Chaos

**All rights to those who own Star Trek. I wish I was one of them.**

**All original characters belong to me.**

Only 8 reviews on the last chapter? Come on, I know you are many more that reads my story, please give me some reviews, I don't mind if they are anonymous (flamers will be removed though) please give me some feedback.

Enjoy.

---

Chapter 5 – A new home, repairs & chaos.

---

"No, no, no, no… You haven't even started your first shift yet!" McCoy laid his hand over his face and shook his head.

When he pulled it down and away, he saw once more the limping Lieutenant with a busted lip.

"Jump up." He pointed to the closest bio-bed.

Skye hobbled forward, dropped the bag on the floor next to the bed, turned her back to the bed and pushed herself up with the help of her good foot. Bending over, she pulled up the pants-leg and saw the horrible, and already, blue-purple bruise, and a small cut just underneath the knee.

"So which evil conductor rod did you collide with this time?" He moved his tricorder over her knee a few times, saw a good answer and pulled out a skin regenerator.

"No rod this time, it was a foot belonging to Ensign Sheila James." She sighed and flicked away a piece of dirt from her other leg.

"You got tripped, no accident?"

"No, all on purpose."

McCoy muttered some profanities under his breath as he saw how the wound closed up nicely. When the knee was healed, he moved the regenerator over her lip a few times, giving her back her soft plumpness.

"You better go to your quarters and change before you report to Scotty."

"Yes, Doctor." She slid down from the bed and felt gingerly with her newly repaired knee if she could stand. She could, though her muscles were straining a bit.

"It'll get better the more you walk. You got your info-PADD?"

Skye pulled up said PADD from her pocket and waved it.

"Yes, the Ensign giving it to me must have thought that I had been in a fight or something."

"So, where are your quarters?" He entered the injury in her medical charts, adding 'on purpose' and the culprit's name. No doubt Spock would find out and make the ensign do some tedious task.

"Let me check…" Skye pushed the screen and got her room assignment. "I will be found at deck 5, room 23-B."

"A room of your own, but I guess you won't be alone in it." He grumbled and walked into his office, dismissing her.

Skye shook her head, picked up her bag and headed to the turbo-lift. Entering it, she was stuffed in like a sardine with other recruits; most of them were going to deck 6, and a few to deck 5, like her. When the lift stopped on deck 5, Skye was one of three who was going to find their room on that deck.

Looking at the number of the room in front of her, it was marked 26-A, and the room to the left of it was marked 27-B, so if she walked to the right…

Bingo, her quarters, 23-B was now in front of her.

Reaching out her hand to touch the entering control, she hesitated before pressing down. What if this was all a dream and she would wake up when she pushed the button? Skye shook her head. She hadn't gotten this far with hesitation. Pressing down, the door 'beeped', logged her DNA for easy access and the door opened with a silent 'swoosh'.

The room was a bit bigger than her dorm-room. It was colored in soft beige and green. The floor was soft peach in color. Across the door stood her new bed with two pillows and a cover lying on top. Sheets and pillow cases lay there too, folded, and for her to make the bed herself. Her two bags with personal belongings stood on the floor in the center of the room waiting to be unpacked.

Dropping down her shoulder bag to her side, she walked around in the room, letting her fingers trail over the surfaces. She had a shelf on her left side, where she could put personal objects and photos.

Walking to the bed, she sat down and felt how nice and soft it was. Seeing a door in the end of the bed, in the wall, she pushed the button to open and found a tiny walk-in closet. She came in with an inch to spare, and had to walk side-ways to get in or out of the closet. But still, she had a closet to put away her clothes in.

Next, she walked to the private area and found that she had a shower and a bath-tub. A small one, but she would fit nicely. A toilet, a sink and a few shelves and hooks for the towels. It was so nice. In here she could really feel at home.

Walking back out in the small living area, she saw that she had less than an hour to change her uniform and at least make the bed, so she wouldn't have to do it after her shift tonight. She would probably be dead-tired when she got back here.

Deciding to make the bed first, she began with her task. First she pulled off her boots and placed them by the door, feeling more comfortable without them. She removed everything from the bed and took a clean white sheet and tried to get it as smooth as possible. When she was satisfied, she put the pillows in their cases and fluffed them up. Fixing the sleeping sheet and spreading it out, she looked at her work and nodded. It would be nice to sleep there tonight.

Lifting one of her bags up, a third bag, which had been behind it, fell to the floor. It was not precisely a bag; it was more of a plastic bag, with a handle, and it was soft, like it was clothes in it. And it was. Opening it, she found two female uniforms, and two male uniforms, but the latter were in her size, as she would be climbing stuff in engineering, so it would be best to have those uniforms as her primary ones. The very short female uniforms were for those days she would not be climbing things, and maybe do more reports and stuff, she decided.

Beginning to unbutton her dusty jacket, she had pulled it off and placed it on a chair by the wall, standing in her shredded pants and her black under-shirt, when her door 'beeped' and announced that she had a visitor.

Skye was curious and surprised. Who could it be? She hadn't made any friends yet; maybe it was Scotty, looking for her.

Shrugging she called out.

"Come in." And the door 'whooshed' open and revealed Spock standing outside.

He stepped inside and stayed by the door as it closed behind him. He stood there for a moment, looking her over, seeing the torn fabric over her knee, her dusty jacket lying on a chair, her hair sticking out a bit from her normally kept French braid and he could see the sadness linger in her eyes, the unshed tears.

"_T'hy'la…_" The word came softly from his lips, almost not reaching her, but it did and she felt how her lower lip began to tremble slightly, and she took a few steps to him.

Spock took a few swift steps and pulled her in his arms, embracing her, whispering softly, feeling complete and more relaxed than he had been up until now.

Skye didn't want to cry, she wouldn't give the bimbos the satisfaction. She took deep breaths and found comfort in being with Spock. His scent calmed her, his closeness and the warmth she felt from his body and mind.

"I saw what happened." He began and felt her tense up. "I did not say anything about us; however, they will be punished for behaving like infants."

"Punished?" She said softly.

"Yes, I have left a report to their senior officers, and Ensigns James and Grey are both under my command, I will make sure they will learn their lesson."

Skye felt comforted by his words, she felt protected. His 'cave-man' was out again.

"Thank you, _k'diwa_. But after they are punished, I don't want any special treatment, if I find someone bothering me, I'll tell Scotty first, if he finds it a problem, he'll go to you guys on the bridge." She smiled and kissed him softly.

"Agreed, you are a grown woman, fully capable to make your own decisions."

"Yes, and now I must kick you out Commander. I have to change and report to my new boss in engineering. My guess is that he's gotten a delivery and he can't wait until I open it for him."

"I presume it is your cloaking device?"

"You presume correctly." She walked him to the door and peaked out, no one in sight.

"If you are not too tired after your shift, would you join me in my private quarters for dinner?" He asked and took the liberty of touching her hand with his two fingers.

"Sure, I'll message you when my shift is over." Skye gave him a peck on the cheek before she stepped inside and let the door close between them.

---

"Deck 15." Skye instructed the turbo-lift. She had now changed into one of her new uniforms; red shirt with a v-neck, black trousers that ended just below her calves and black boots which went to just under her knees.

Stopping on a few other floors, picking up and dropping off other personnel, Skye stepped out on deck 15 with three others reporting for duty to Scotty.

Skye let the other ones go ahead, as she took a better look on main engineering. Tubes and generators scattered in an orderly manner, the gentle hum of the warp-core, consoles beeping and blinking, people checking all systems, ensigns getting their orders and placements - a well-constructed chaos.

Hearing a Scottish accent, Skye moved deeper into her new home.

"Who's been messin' with the auxiliary relays?!" Scotty was not a happy man. Ever since he got back to his turf in engineering, he had discovered that the repair-crew had done some changes to his engine. No one did any changes unless he approved of them.

He wished he could strangle the engineer responsible of this and get away with it. Or if he could drop him out in space, when they were going in warp. Yes, that would feel so good.

"Scotty?"

He turned around and saw his new miracle worker.

"Have ya come to save me day, lass?" He smiled and wiped his brow with his sleeve.

"I might, if you put me to work?" She smiled back and waved to Keenser, who sat on a generator, fixing something with his small tools.

"Well, the Captain has complaining about his screen upstairs. It shows only half of what it normally should. Some of the idiots repairing must have missed something in one of the fiber optic connections, so before we leave dock we must have it repaired."

And just as he said it, the comm.-system beeped.

"Scotty, how're we doing?" Kirk's voice came over the system and he sounded quite strained.

"All is good to go, Captain. Just some glitches with the auxiliary relays and the visual display, but it'll be fixed in a jiffy, as I have me new miracle worker here." He clapped Skye's shoulder and handed her a tool-belt.

"Good to know." Kirk said and turned off the link.

"Is he…?"

"Pissed? Yep, some lunatic had replaced his chair on the bridge with a 'modern' one. He had some poor soul go and find his chair in the junk-yard and fix it. Never mess with the Captain's chair, lass, it will only make ye cry."

Skye nodded and shook her head internally. Kirk was very childish sometimes, but it was his ship.

"The computer indicates that the wire that the optical relays malfunctioning is directly beneath the visual display."

"You mean, I have to go up there?" She pointed somewhere above their heads.

"Ya can't repair the display from here, can ya lass?" He chuckled. All the newbie's were nervous when they had to do some work on the bridge, 'cause then they would be watched by the Captain and all the other officers.

"I suppose not…" She sighed and straightened up, she could do this, and she knew how to work on optical relays, so she could fix this.

"Ya have about thirty minutes to fix the screen, then we're off in space." Scotty smiled and gave her a repair box, with all the things she would possibly need for repairing everything onboard.

"Yes, sir!" She smiled and saluted.

"Oh, and when you're done with the screen, take care of this too lass." He handed her a PADD with various things to repair.

Skye scrolled down the long list he had given her.

_Reparation of three bio-beds in medical – cannot give the right readings_

_Replicator on deck 3 (in the officer's lounge) is only producing Ferengi stew_

_Control-panel reparation in; main computer memory banks, biochemistry lab, astrometrics lab, intelligence center_

_Reparation of the brig – the cell's are malfunctioning_

And so on. Skye knew she would be very tired after this day.

"You do realize that this will take me a while to get this done, Mr. Scott?"

"Aye, then you better get started, lassie! You have until 1700hours to fix that list." He smiled, fully confident in her.

"That's only four hours, sir!" She protested weakly.

"Exactly, plenty of time!" He gave her a push towards the turbo lift and nodded.

Skye entered the turbo lift and asked for the bridge.

---

"Captain, the chair is the same as it was before."

Skye could hear Spock's voice when she stepped out of the lift. When she saw him, she smiled gently and stepped forward.

As if Kirk had a sixth sense, he spun around and faced her.

"So, the miracle worker has arrived to fix that?" He pointed towards the big screen and Skye saw how the image was showing one half of space and the other had a mix between black and frizzy static.

"Yes, Captain." Skye moved confidently through the room and walked around the helm, nodding to the helmsman and the navigator. The latter blushed and looked down, seeming to be very interested in his controls.

Skye was the access port in the floor under the screen and sat down on her knees to enter it. Taking a multi-spanner from her belt, she opened the hatch easily and when she removed it, she was met by a shower of sparks, making her jump and close her eyes.

"You okay, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir. But I'm with Scotty on this, someone did a half-assed job." She muttered and pulled on a pair of gloves, in case she got a shock from the electrical.

Disconnecting the screen, it went completely black and a low hum that lessened was heard from the power relays.

Pulling out the long optical cable, she found the error about one meter from the connection port. It had been lying against a power relay, melting the cover and making the fibers to melt together, and the signals did not know how to send the information to the screen around the faulty part, making the screen only receive half of the information.

Taking a drastic choice, she pulled out a cutter and was about to shorten the cable just beneath the problem, when she felt a breath tickle her ear. Turning around slightly, she faced the Captain hovering just over her shoulder.

"Sir?" She asked cautiously.

"Do you know what you're doing?" He asked calmly, his eyes not showing what he was thinking.

"Yes, sir." She said with confidence.

"Continue Lieutenant." He moved back a few steps and continued to watch her.

Skye gulped and cut the cable making sure she removed all melted parts. Cutting again, she took the contact port and attached it to the freshly cut part, attaching it with great care and before inserting it, she tested all the other connections, so she wouldn't have to redo this later.

Plugging the cable back in, she heard the hum of the power relays give the screen energy.

"Could someone please engage the visual screen?" Skye asked out in the room.

She heard a few beeping noises and the screen blinked a few times, and then there was a perfect view of space in front of them.

"And we have visual!" Kirk shouted and smiled. The other's laughed at him and nodded appreciatively at Skye.

Skye made sure to put down the optical cable so that it didn't touch any power relays this time. Checking everything one last time, she closed the hatch and secured it. Putting back her stuff in her box and belt, she rose, pulled out her PADD and marked the line 'visual display – malfunctioning' as 'repaired'. One down, at least twenty to go.

"Lieutenant." Kirk waved her over to his side.

"Yes, Captain."

"Here is some stuff I have gotten reports of that don't work." He handed her a PADD. "I haven't had the time to give it to Scotty yet."

Skye scrolled down on the screen. Was he serious?

_Only scalding water in Captain's quarters. _

_Bowling lane broken_

_Captain's ready room control-board on the fritz_

And ten more things that revolved around the Captain's quarters and similar.

"Sir, I can't tell when I can be able to fix this; I have twenty priority repairs that needs to be done before 1700hours." Skye said carefully.

"Take this down to Scotty then, and tell him that it's top priority." He grinned and saw her leave with a sigh.

Scotty would not like this…

---

Scotty was really surprised when he saw Skye step out of the turbo lift; he thought she was on her way to medical to fix the bio-beds. He had seen on his main computer that she had ticked off the visual display as repaired. As all the PADD's he had lists on were linked to his computer, so he could keep an eye on how his engineers running around the ship were doing. He could also add things to do on their PADD's; move the priority of the repairs and similar things.

"Lass, what are ya doing down here? I thought you were supposed to go to medical?"

"I was, but the Captain saw fit to use me as a messenger boy. He wants you to make this 'top priority'." She handed Scotty the PADD and backed two steps.

When Scotty saw the repairs Kirk wanted done, he nearly blew a whistle.

"This is not priority, only the control-board in the ready room is acceptable." Scotty pressed a few buttons on his computer and Skye saw how her list was extended with one repair.

"Go on, get to it, lass." Scotty shooed her away to the turbo-lifts again.

Then he threw the PADD she had given him from the Captain in a pile of other PADD's. Those would have to wait until later.

---

Throughout the day, Skye made repairs all over the ship. She was at least once on each deck, not having the time to stop and take a decent break. For every repair made, one or two new were added to her PADD; her list seemed endless.

When she was in the officer's dining lounge, repairing the replicator there, which only made Ferengi Stew, she saw the Captain, Spock, McCoy and a few others sitting and having an afternoon snack of coffee and sandwiches.

Checking the time, she saw that it was close to 1600hours and she had at least twenty repairs to do before time was up. Closing the hatch to the replicator, she pushed a few buttons to re-boot the computer and then she made it produce a simple cheese and ham sandwich. It worked and as she left the room, marking the repair as completed, she swallowed the sandwich down in a few bites.

She never noticed how Spock watched her leave.

"What's bugging you, Spock?"

Spock looked across the table and met Jim's eyes.

"Nothing."

"I saw you looking at her. You worry too much." He smiled.

"It's illogical to worry. She is fully capable to take care of herself."

"I'm sure of it Spock." He grinned and knew Spock was wondering how she was doing on her first day.

---

Skye was sitting in a Jefferies tube between deck 19 and 20 repairing a minor connection to the aft tractor beam. She had still ten repairs to do when she was done with this one.

To reach better, she turned to lie on her back, reaching up her arms to take hold of a wire, when she heard a voice call for her.

"Lieutenant Archer?" A male voice bounced in the tube, making it hard to hear who it was.

"Almost done, I'll be with you in a minute." She called back, finishing up her repair, closing the lid and marking the repair as completed.

Turning around, she began to crawl forward to exit the same way she got in. When she came to the exit, she saw a male stand there; he was wearing a blue shirt, so she knew he was in science. Reaching out her hand to take hold of the railing, he grabbed her hand and assisted her out.

The moment they touched, she knew it was Spock, and they were alone, as he pulled her close.

"Where were you? I have waited for you." He held her close, but took a step back, looking at her. She was already looking tired and through the bond he could feel her stomach churn with hunger.

"What do you mean? I said I was going to tell you when I was done and ready to come over."

"Skye, your shift ended approximately two hours and 43 minutes ago."

She counted in her mind, nearly three hours, but then the time must be…

"So you're telling me that it's almost 2100hours?!"

"Yes. So I was worried about you. I had the computer to locate you."

"I have been working with all these repairs." She waved her PADD in front of him. "And as soon as I was done with one, another one was added to the list and I just kept going."

"May I?"

Spock got the PADD from her and saw that she had completed at least sixty repairs over the last eight hours. Thirty percent of them were not essential for her to complete, not with her knowledge.

"Mr. Scott gave you this list?"

"Yes, and when I started with them, it was just around twenty repairs to do, but I have been around on all decks, most of them I have been at least twice on." She sighed and really felt now how tired she really was, and how hungry she was.

Spock walked to the communication panel on the wall and asked.

"Mr. Scott, are you still in engineering?"

"Yes, Mr. Spock. Is anything the matter?"

"I'll be arriving shortly. Stay there and wait for me." He then took Skye by the arm and made her walk with him.

"Where are we going?"

"Engineering." He said when they stepped into the turbo lift. "Deck 15."

---

Scotty sat in front of his computer, checking off all repairs that had been done during the day-shift, when Spock and Skye came to engineering.

"Mr. Scott, I did not know that you were such a slave-driver."

"Hear now Mr. Vulcan, I push my workers to make their best, but no more than that."

"Can you then explain why I found Lieutenant Archer in a Jefferies tube between decks 19 and 20 at this hour?"

"Your shift ended almost three hours ago, lass. Why didn't ya stop?"

"I had repairs to do and more kept popping up, so I guessed that you needed them done as soon as I could get to them, sir."

"How many have ya done?"

"Sixty-four, and thirty percent of them are not essential for her to repair." Spock said, handing her PADD to Scotty, who scratched his head and walked to his computer.

He connected the PADD to the main-frame and got her repair-list on his screen.

"These first twenty repairs I know I added myself, but the rest of them…" He shook his head.

"Do you suggest that someone added those non essential repairs to her list, so they would get an easier shift?"

"I'm afraid so. The most of them I'm certain that I gave to another new laddie, Vice, I think his name was."

"Damien Vice, sir?" Skye sighed and shook her head.

"Yes, I think so, lass. You know him?"

"Yep, he was in a few of my classes, he over-slept in most of the transporter-theory classes, so he copied my notes for them. But other than that, I don't know him that much."

"I will see to his punishment tomorrow."

"Nah, I'll take care of it Mr. Spock. He's under me, so I know what to do with him. I'll let him scrub the floor down here until it shines. And you lass, you sleep in, come down here around lunch or so." He winked at her.

"Thank you Scotty. You're the best."

"I know, go on and get some sleep."

"Good night, Scotty." She smiled and walked to the turbo-lift with Spock after her.

---

Spock insisted on following her to her quarters and to replicate something for her to eat while she showered.

Skye argued that he might be seen and that rumors would go around that she was sleeping with the First Officer and that was how she got on this ship.

He retaliated and said that if someone did say so, then he would ask that person of their sources and see if there was any truth in the rumors.

"If they ask, I will say that I am interested in how you made your cloaking device, and since I am, then it is the truth. Vulcan's do not lie."

"But they can exaggerate."

"That may be, but only if necessary."

Skye stepped out of the turbo lift and walked right, to her quarters.

"I haven't made it my place yet, so it will look like a hotel room, but I'll make it cozier later."

"It does not bother me, just as long as you are in there. Then the room will reflect you."

Skye shook her head and pressed the control and the door swooshed open to reveal her quarters.

…which were in total disarray; someone had been in there, ripping her bags open, all her clothes and personal belongings were thrown about on the floor.

Her bed was not made any more, the sheets were ripped off, her pillows cut open, the stuffing ripped out and thrown about.

Skye just let her jaw drop; she didn't know how to react at first. She got angry, sad and felt hatred to the person that did this.

Taking a step forward, Skye wanted to get in there and see if anything was missing or broken.

But Spock put an arm around her, stopping her.

"No, Skye. Computer, seal the door. Code: Spock Alfa-Theta-2." They saw how the door closed and heard the safety locks engage.

"Why? My things, I must…"

"We have to see if the intruder left some evidence of who he or she was. I am sorry Skye."

Skye stared at her new room, the door blocking her out. She felt like she had been thrown out from her own home. And she had.

Spock led her away, back to the turbo lifts. They had to see the Captain about this.

---

It had not been there!

Sure, he suspected as much, but he had to look.

Hoping they were foolish enough to leave the device with her, he had turned her room upside down.

He had been careful, using gloves and spraying the room with disinfectants when he left. They would never find out it was him.

But she would.

Soon.

---

**So, did you like it? I hope the description of the ship and stuff sounded good and somewhat accurate.**

**Thank you 'smithsbabe65' for the plot of 'What Skye should repair' and the somewhat aggravated Spock, I love your ideas, they make me birth new ones. ;)**

**Someone had gone through Skye's stuff; he will be punished later for going through her undies. :P **

**Please review and you're welcome to give me plot bunnies to munch on. It gives me a hint of what you want to happen.**

**Lunatic.**


	6. Comfort & Confrontation

**All rights to those who own Star Trek. I wish I was one of them.**

**All original characters belong to me.**

12 reviews on chapter 5! It's getting there ;)

And I have a confession to make. My plot-bunnies are dying, so if you guys out there would give me some ideas, then I would be very happy.

This chapter was given a push forward by '**felblossom**', and I thank her for it =D

Enjoy!

---

Chapter 6 – Comfort & Confrontation

---

Taking the turbo lift to deck 4, Spock and Skye were in the small area for barely two seconds. Following Spock, Skye felt like she did before a huge test, stressed out and just walking like a robot.

She could not wrap her mind around the fact that someone had destroyed her new quarters, probably just trying to find the cloaking device, which was in a secure cargo-bay on deck 17.

The crate the device was temporarily stored in needed her DNA and her personal code override to open.

If the 'room-wrecker' wanted the device, he or she needed to have Skye under gunpoint to have her open it.

Stopping behind Spock as he did, Skye saw that they were outside room 1-B, the Captain's Quarters.

Glancing behind him, Spock saw how Skye closed her eyes and tried to focus. He felt her confusion through their bond, and he wanted to soothe her. He also wanted to track down the person who did this and kill him, but that instinct he suppressed and knocked on Kirk's door.

"Enter."

The door slid open and they found Kirk sitting by his desk, looking over reports and the status of every department.

"Spock…" He smiled at his friend. "…and Lieutenant Archer?" He was a bit surprised to see her there.

"Yes, Captain, there has been a slight incident." Spock began.

"Let me guess… you can't sleep without her and you want to ask if it's okay for her to 'visit' your room every night?" He grinned.

Spock was not amused and a small crease between his eyebrows became visible.

"Okay…" Kirk let his smile dissipate and turned to Skye. "Care to tell me what this is about? You aren't pregnant are you?"

"No, I am not." Skye spoke snappishly and crossed her arms over her chest. "But someone has broken in to my quarters, went through all my personal items and even torn my pillows apart."

That piece of information made Kirk straighten in his chair and listen. He turned to Spock who nodded his confirmation.

"I guess he or she wanted your invention?"

Skye nodded to him. Kirk was now in Captain-mode, and he knew that if someone onboard wanted her invention, then someone under his command was not honest and perhaps a traitor to the Federation.

"Even if we keep this secret, someone will start rumors on how and why your room was trashed." Kirk sighed and pulled his hand over his face.

"I agree Captain, even if we say it is classified, people will make their own conclusions. It is more logical to inform of the events and see if anyone will come forward with more information."

"True, Spock. We'll make a ship-wide broadcast tomorrow morning and I'll send a team to take samples in your quarters Lieutenant, hopefully finding some clues to whoever did this."

"Thank you Captain. I appreciate it." Skye nodded to him.

"Don't let anyone see you tomorrow morning though." His grin was back on.

"Sir?" Skye didn't understand.

"When you sneak out of Spock's quarters." He winked at them.

"Goodnight Captain." Spock nodded rudely and led Skye out in front of him.

Spock led Skye around the corner and stopped by a door marked: 2-A 'First Officer'.

"There are available quarters on deck 5 if you would prefer those instead?" He offered, though he did not want her to choose them.

"I don't think I could sleep there, not after this day." She said softly and touched his hand gently.

Pressing on the lock, Spock opened the door and showed her in.

It looked almost like his quarters on Earth, a bit smaller though, with the same color scheme; warm earthy colors and a temperature closer to the one on Vulcan. The first room, he had two, was his office, he had a desk and a computer, some PADD's were stacked neatly on top. On one wall he had a shelf with different objects from different worlds. On another wall he had a painting of Vulcan, with its two suns behind, creating a beautiful light over the planet.

The bed was placed in the second room, behind a screen draped in red fabric, giving more privacy for him. His altar was placed on the opposite wall and a few ceremonial weapons hung on the wall, signifying his violent ancestry.

"This reflects you Spock, and I like it very much."

"I am glad that you like it. Now, would you like to shower and I may replicate some food for us, since you have not eaten a decent meal today?"

"A shower would feel really nice." She nodded and opened the door to the bathroom. "I won't be long."

Spock nodded and as the door closed, he went to his closet and pulled out a t-shirt for her to sleep in and then he took off his uniform and pulled on a pair of sweats and nothing else. Then he replicated some light food, consisting of chicken salad for Skye, he knew she favored the dish, and some _Plomeek Soup_ for him.

When he had set the small table he had in his living area, he heard the bathroom door open and he turned to see Skye stepping out wrapped in one of his towels.

She walked straight to him; stopping a few inches away she pushed up on her toes and nudged his lips. Spock took hold of her upper arms and pulled her closer; kissing her like he hadn't seen her in several days.

Ending the kiss after a while, Spock handed her the t-shirt to put on.

"No towels while eating." He smirked.

Feeling tempted to just drop the towel on the floor, to see his reaction, Skye decided against it and pulled the large t-shirt over her head and over the towel. When she was covered by the t-shirt, she reached up under it and pulled off the towel in one move.

"As you wish, _k'diwa_." She smirked back and hung the towel over the back of the chair and sat down, making sure she sat on the t-shirt, so her bare bottom wouldn't get stuck on the smooth wooden surface of the chair.

Spock felt Skye's impish tendencies surface, but they slid back in her mind before she acted on them. He sat down opposite of her and nodded to her to eat and watched as she almost inhaled her meal. She must be hungrier than he had first thought. Eating his soup in a moderate pace, he finished his meal ten minutes after her.

"Do you wish for more, _t'hy'la_?"

"No thank you, I'm full." Her eyes had begun to close somewhat, the lack of decent rest had come upon her and he himself felt the need of resting with her.

Clearing the table in an efficient manner, Spock took her hand and led her to his bed.

Skye got under the covers and as soon as Spock had climbed in, she cuddled up next to him, laying one leg over his and pressing as close as she could.

"I missed you today Spock. It was fun to work on a real ship, but I missed to be close to you, missed our conversations and so. I can't wait until we can be open about our relationship."

"I found it hard to focus on my work, as most of my thoughts were focused on you and your progress today." He replied and squeezed his arm tighter around her.

"My progress was good, but the next time I see Damien Vice I'll…" She growled and wanted to strangle him. "I thought he was my friend."

"Ask him why and if he cannot give you a satisfying answer, then he might not be a good friend."

Skye nodded against him and closed her eyes. She was mentally and physically exhausted of the events this day. She hoped it would be better tomorrow.

---

Waking up at 0700hours, Spock lingered in bed next to Skye. He thought of the previous day's events and wished he could do something to assist her, but he knew she would object to anything he would suggest and she must make new friends of her own. He could not interfere with her social life, not until they were 'in the open' with their relationship.

And with all the events going on, who knew when that might happen?

First they must work together, eat a few times with their colleagues, and then they could be seen to dine with only each other's company. Human mating rituals were complicated sometimes.

Feeling her move in her sleep, he bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Spock?" She murmured and let her eyes open a bit.

"_Yuk-tor t'hy'la._" He touched her cheek gently. "I must go to my post soon, however you have the luxury to sleep a while longer."

"I do?" She asked and tried to remember. "Yeah… I do." She closed her eyes and smiled.

"I'll set the computer to wake you at 1100hours, is that acceptable for you?"

"Eleven?" She tried to remember how the hours of the day was planned out. "Yeah, that will be fine. Thank you Spock…"

"I'll put your uniform in the laundry area and it should be done in time."

"You are too good for me, my _adun_…" She reached up her hand and laid it around the back of his neck, pulling him closer and kissing him. "Too good in every way…" She murmured against his lips.

"And you for me, my _adun'a_…" He pulled away reluctantly and rose from the bed. He made sure she was covered and went to the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed.

After he had gotten dressed, Spock walked to the bed and saw how Skye had fallen asleep again. He programmed the computer to wake her at 1100hours and also ordered it to start the laundry program.

Leaving his quarters, Spock began his day and wished Skye luck with hers.

---

'_Beep, beep, beep…'_

"I'm up, I'm up!" Skye sat up while the alarm continued. "Stop alarm."

The alarm ceased and she sighed while she stretched and pushed down the covers from her body. In her own room, she would have awoken more rapidly, but in Spock's room, she was still cozy and warm in his choice of room-temperature. It was quite nice actually, but she would be more pleased if Spock was next to her and they could cuddle a bit like they did on Earth, before they rose and begun their day.

Sitting up, Skye looked around and her eyes fell on a music instrument, it was probably Spock's _ka'athyra_, the Vulcan lute he had mentioned playing. She would ask him the next time they were in his quarters if he could play it for her.

Finally rising from the bed, Skye entered the bathroom and was that the laundry unit was emitting a green light, signaling that it had completed its cycle. Pushing the button to open it, a cloud of steam seeped out in the air. In the compartment, Skye's clean uniform lay folded, probably Spock's doing. It smelled fresh and clean, and it felt really nice to put it on. Almost like getting a fresh start of the day, and Skye hoped that this day would be better than the previous one.

After brushing her teeth with an extra brush Spock had put there for her, she made his bed and exited his room. It was time to get some early lunch and get back to work.

---

Skye chose to have her early lunch on one of the two larger mess halls on deck 6, as she felt she might be accosted by people interested in her device and not in her. Maybe she would have better luck finding a new friend if she had more people to choose from.

But as she stepped into the mess hall, she felt that she should have chosen the other one, or gone to the Officer's Mess on deck 5.

Sheila James and Lynn Grey sat by one of the larger tables with her gang of people and she smirked evilly when she saw Skye enter.

Sighing and taking a deep breath, Skye walked to the replicator and took a chicken salad for lunch. She knew that if she turned and left, she would be treated as a coward. She had to get through this, not everyone listened to Sheila, right?

Passing the table where the queen bee and her followers sat, she heard them whisper. This was worse than high school.

Sitting down by a free table, Skye had her back turned to them, so she couldn't see the envious/loathing stares she got.

Eating as quickly she could, without being too obvious that she was in a hurry, she hoped that they would leave her alone this time. Nevertheless, Lady Luck had abandoned her once more and she heard Sheila's voice travel over to her.

"I can't believe how some people seek attention. Just because they do one thing great, they must feel like they have to have the spotlight on them all the time." Sheila sighed loudly.

"I know." Lynn added. "To mess up her room like someone had broken in, just so the Captain would see her and give her special treatment. Come on; don't do that to yourself…" Shaking her head, she got some to laugh.

Skye felt how a stone was dropped in her stomach at the next bite she swallowed. It was definitely high school all over again, people whispering behind the smart kid's back, teasing, being jealous of one good accomplishment.

She was a lieutenant now, but respect did not come with the grade, she must still earn it. If she started a fight over some words, she would not be better than them.

Finally finishing her meal, Skye rose and took her tray to the recycling station. When she had dumped the tray and its contents, she turned around and faced Sheila and Lynn. They were looking at her with contempt. Skye cleared her throat.

"Is there any problem?" She asked a bit warily.

"Only you, Lieutenant." Sheila's eyes glowed with malice. "Commander Spock made Lynn and me go through all inventory lists for the science lab and the cargo-holds of said inventory. It took us ten hours to complete!"

"So, what can I do about it, Ensign?" Skye asked and straightened up, prepared for an all out attack.

"You can stop reporting us to your lovers, Lieutenant. Or we will have you reported."

"Reported for what exactly? Causing jealousy amongst the crew? Having the nerve to try and invent something that has never been successful before? Or having the courage to not engage in a pointless fight with someone who acts like she is the prom-queen from hell?" Skye tried to find some more inner strength as she saw Sheila's eyes flicker with hesitation. She seemed to start questioning her own accusations.

"If you cross the line with me Ensign, I will report you to your superior officer and make sure you spend the rest of this journey scrubbing bedpans in sickbay. Dismissed."

Skye turned and exited the mess hall, leaving Sheila and Lynn to their thoughts and their choices they had made.

---

While she made her way down to Main Engineering, Skye contemplated her choice of words. Would Sheila retaliate or back off? Would she report her? Would she continue being jealous and attack her with hateful words?

So many questions, to which she had no answer.

Exiting the turbo lift, she found Scotty in front of his computer, checking off the repairs done during the day.

"Morning, lass, had a good night's sleep?"

"Yes, I was comfortable."

"I heard what happened to your quarters. Hope security finds some clues to who it was."

"Me too, and I hope I can get in there to see if something was broken." She sighed. "So, what can I do for you today?"

"Not much, since you went through most important repairs yesterday. But I need someone to do a diagnostic on the warp reactor. Just to see so everything works."

"Sure, I'm on it." She picked up a PADD from his desk and he downloaded the specs from the last diagnostic to it.

When she turned to leave, she stopped and looked at him.

"Scotty? What is my main function on the ship?"

"What do ya mean lass?"

"I mean, I'm an engineer and so, but what is my function? Is there someplace down here I should be in charge of, or am I to do the odd jobs and reparations where it's needed?"

"Sit down lass." He pointed to the chair next to him.

Skye sat down and placed the PADD in her lap with her hands.

"I want you as my second, if I'm not up and about; I want you to take care of her." He looked around on the engine.

"You mean, you want me to lead when things go bad?" She was a bit dumbfounded at his answer.

"Yep, I don't think there's anyone here that can do it as good as you will do, lass. Back on Earth, when I asked ya if ya had ever repaired an overloaded control-panel with only a standard laser and ya own hands, ya expression told me that ya can make miracles with ya hands and ya mind." He smiled at her and patted her hand. "And besides, Keenser wouldn't accept anyone else." He pointed up to a gangway above them and Skye saw the little alien sit there and look down at them.

"So, you want me to be you, in a way?"

"Pretty much, when you're done with the diagnostic, I want ya to come back here and we'll go through the ship together. I'll give ya the grand tour."

"I'd like that very much." She rose and smiled. "Thank you Scotty."

---

Passing by her quarters on deck 5, he saw how the security team checked for something he might have left behind. Please, he was not that sloppy.

"I heard what happened, how's it going?" He asked one of the red-shirts standing with a tricorder.

"Yeah, evil scum destroying her things like it was nothing. Nothing so far, but we'll find the person responsible."

"Good, I hope you'll catch the person." He slapped the red-shirt's shoulder for good measure and continued on his way.

'_Like you would ever catch me, I'm too meticulous and I know what I'm doing.' _He smirked and opened up a Jefferies tube further down the hallway and climbed in. He placed himself between deck 5 and 6, opened a hatch and revealed one of the three main conduits to the life-support on deck 5-7. That included sickbay and most of the crew's quarters.

It would keep them busy for a while, if he blew up all three of the conduits on this floor. He had already placed minor explosives on other decks; main engineering was one of them. He had placed some under various generators, one by the warp-core (got to give them a small chance, he wasn't totally heartless), one or two on the bridge (these were just flash-bombs, designed to make them blind for a while). And he had also placed a few in communications, in the transporter room (making the transporter short out) and in the phaser control room, just so they could escape in peace.

He was all covered. And he had sent their flight plan to his Master, in an encrypted message and he had received answer on it this morning. In less than a week they would intercept and by then he had to have the device under control and be ready to drop the shields from the ship on his command.

The shields would be taken care of with a small bomb placed on deck 14, were the various controls to most of the ship's systems were. The small explosive would be triggered from his personal PADD, and that would be the start of everything.

He had also already tweaked the sensor array control on deck 10, so that the long-range sensors would not pick up his Master's ship until it was too late.

Everything was going as planned.

---

**The evil spy strikes again. He is really a piece of work, placing bombs on the newly repaired Enterprise. Poor girl, what she must withstand…**

**So, Scotty has told Skye that he wants her for his second. And Skye has grown a bit of a backbone. What do you think? Will Sheila retaliate, or will she back off?**

**And a reminder from the info in the beginning; my bunnies are dying, so if you have a tiny snippet of an idea, please send it to me. My brain is drying up in the imaginary department :(**

**Lunatic.**

Translations:

_Adun_ – husband

_Adun'a _– wife


	7. Friends, Explosions & Love

**All rights to those who own Star Trek. I wish I was one of them.**

**All original characters belong to me.**

Okay! 7000 words!! This is a really long chapter, with loads of action. There is sadness, regret, friendship, fear, bombs, explosions, blood and hot loving!

M-rating in the end of the chapter, don't read if you're not of age.

ENJOY!

---

Chapter 7 – Friends, Explosions & Love

---

Skye had been able to return to her room two days ago. The security team had found some fibers from a uniform shirt, a red one, but it had led them nowhere, as there was no trace of DNA on it.

When she had returned after her shift, she had found the room in the same condition as she last saw it. Her bags spread out all over the floor and all was a big mess. However, they had been kind enough to clean up her bed and gotten her new pillows and sheets.

She had begun to make her bed for the second time in three days. It was oddly satisfying to make her bed, feeling like she cleaned out the bed stuff that had happened in here. She was glad that her room was the only place that had been trashed, and not herself. If she had noticed that the list of repairs had been tampered with much earlier, then she might have bumped into the one doing this, and that might have caused an altercation between them, and she might have become hurt.

It didn't happen, so she was glad for it, or she might have been a nervous wreck by now.

Next thing she tackled was her clothes. Nothing had been ripped apart, only thrown out from her bags. So she sorted every item in appropriate piles on her bed, underwear, t-shirts, pants etc and her dress from New Year.

Putting all the stuff away, she got to her more personal items; her diploma from the Academy, a framed page of her Vulcan writing she liked, an old stuffed _maneki neko_ (lucky cat) made of real silk and a photo of her and her mom, before the results of her tests came in.

Skye smiled sadly and caressed the brown wooden frame. If she hadn't passed those exams, her life would be completely different now.

'_Beep'_

The door woke her from her musings and she unconsciously wiped away a single tear from her cheek. She hadn't realized that she had been crying.

"Come in." She said in a muted tone and smiled when Spock entered her quarters.

"_T'hy'la._ I see you have gotten your room back in one piece." He looked around and felt at ease in here.

"Yes and nothing was broken either." She turned away a bit from him and looked at the picture on the shelf.

Spock felt her sadness and longing, but it was not connected to him or anyone else on this ship. It was connected to someone far away.

"Your mother?" Spock came up behind Skye and laid his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

"Yes, it was taken before I got my results of the tests to enlist in the Academy."

Spock saw an older version of Skye, though the woman had darker brown hair, almost black, cut in a boyish short style, and her eyes had a brighter shade of blue, instead of Skye's dark blue ones.

She was sitting in a wheel-chair and Skye stood behind her, hugging her close. Both were smiling at the camera and happiness shone in their eyes.

"You were 22 at the time?" He murmured and reached up to remove her hair-clips, letting her hair out.

"Mm, I was so happy when I got the message that I had been accepted to Star Fleet. But her eyes stopped shining when she realized that I had taken her dream, her life to live, to be able to go out in space one day. She shut me out the same day; she didn't speak to me at all, not even when I left."

"Have you communicated with her since?" Spock pulled her closer to the bed and began to pull off her uniform.

"Yes, I have sent her messages every term, and before every holiday I have asked if she wants me to come home to visit. But I have never gotten any answers, not any real ones. Only that she has her health and that she is too busy to have me home."

"And before we left Earth?" He pulled off her undershirt and began to unbutton her pants, pushing them down over her hips.

"I sent her a message on the 4th that I was going to leave Earth on the 8th, and if she wanted to see me before then, she had to reply the same day. She did, and told me that she didn't have the time to see me. Maybe when I returned to Earth we could meet." Skye sighed and felt sad, but no tears came this time.

Spock had removed all her clothes and pulled on her nightdress, just caring for her, and feeling comfort in taking care of his mate.

"Thank you for listening to me Spock." She turned in his arms and kissed him. "And you got an eyeful into the bargain." Skye grinned and saw a faint blush on his cheeks.

"I had ulterior motives when I first arrived, but I now wish to give you comfort, though I cannot spend the night. Only a few hours."

"I'll just brush my teeth and then we can cuddle."

"That will be sufficient." He responded with a half-smile.

---

At lunch the next day, Skye sat by a table by herself, eating a rather late lunch, as she had been held up in engineering. She was reading an inventory list, and there was a few things missing, which should have been there when they left space dock. Some optic sensors, a dilithium container, several backup pipes and a few other things. They could manage without them, but if something big happened to the ship, they might need the extra dilithium.

Scotty would see this when she got back from lunch. And he would hear a few words from her as well, as he had been lazy with some reports, which the science and security departments needed to have to finish up their reports.

"Lieutenant?"

Skye paused in her reading and looked up from her PADD. She saw two females standing with their lunch trays in front of her. One was Amie Fauxelle, the nurse who had been with Sheila and Lynn the day they had boarded Enterprise. The other one was, if she wasn't mistaken, Janice Rand, the Captain's new assistant, who was supposed to ease his work-load and do reports for him.

"Yes?" Skye didn't know what to expect from them both. Rand had not partaken in any altercations between Sheila and herself, but Fauxelle had, so Skye felt a bit wary about them.

"We heard that you put Sheila in her place the other day." Janice began.

"Yes, and we want to tell you that it was awesome." Amie cut in and smiled.

"And we also wanted to tell you that she has been like that ever since we met her. When she finds someone she can 'attack' with her jealousy, she does just that." Janice elbowed Amie a bit.

"I figured that out, when she and Lynn attacked me verbally." Skye said and wondered what they were going with this.

"Yes, and we wonder if we could possibly sit with you and try to be friends?" Amie winced a bit and continued. "I know you and I didn't start good, but I was scared of Sheila, she can be really mean. So, can we try?"

Skye met their eyes and saw that they were honest with her. They didn't seem to have a hidden agenda, and she really wanted a friend on the ship.

"We'll try, but remember, if I need, I'll pull rank, but only in situations when needed."

"We understand, may we sit with you?" Janice smiled and nodded to a pair of empty chairs.

"Sure, I don't mind."

Janice sat on Skye's right side and Amie to her left. They began chatting about how they liked Enterprise, how their assignments were and how they came to enlist in Star Fleet.

Twenty minutes into the conversation, Tristan Addams and two of his friends came to their table and nodded to them.

"I want to apologize, Lieutenant. I should have stopped Sheila and her friend before…" Tristan began.

"Save it, sit down and we can try to be friends." Skye nodded to the three empty chairs and they sat down.

Tristan introduced his two friends to the women as Pierce Langley, who was a blond skinny type, but he seemed to be very flexible and quick, he was with Tristan in security, another 'red-shirt'. The other was a Vulcan, Kinshar, who had a strange eye color for being a Vulcan. They were gold-brown, while most Vulcan's had dark, almost black ones. Kinshar was working in both Science and Engineering, but mostly he was in Science, under Spock's mentoring. He was here due to an exchange program between Star Fleet and the Vulcan Science Academy. He was dressed in the science 'blue-shirt'.

Kinshar was mostly silent during the lunch, but he eyed Skye now and then, trying to figure her out maybe? When Skye had fallen silent for a moment, she felt his eyes on her and looked up.

"I have heard that you have skills in Vulcan writing, Lieutenant." He said, his voice calculated and a bit darker than Spock's.

"I enjoy the complexity and structural beauty of the script, yes. But I am far from a master, as your scholars would probably rip my tries apart and claim them as imperfect." She answered and saw that he saw slightly impressed by her choice of words. Skye had learnt how to read Spock's eyes when they were among others, and this applied somewhat to Kinshar as well.

"I would like to see some of your attempts sometime, if I may?" He looked at her with something Skye couldn't place, an emotion maybe?

"Sure, I'll bring them to dinner sometime." She said, suddenly a bit wary of him. There was something that wasn't right about him.

"Thank you, I am most interested to see your writings." He nodded his head in gratitude to her and continued with his meal.

The intercom suddenly '_beeped_' and Scotty's voice was heard.

"_Lieutenant Archer, report to engineering immediately."_

Skye rose and pressed the intercom closest to her and replied.

"On my way Scotty." She had heard something in his voice that told her that something wasn't right.

"I'll see you later." She said to her new friends and grabbed her PADD and rushed to the nearest turbo-lift.

---

"What's wrong Scotty?" Skye asked as soon as she got a hold of him.

He was hanging upside down and bolting on a cover to one of the generators.

"They have spotted a ship not far from us; it will be here in less than ten minutes. It's in pursuit of us."

"Is it hostile?"

"We don't know yet, they don't answer on our hail and it's not registered in our data-base." He swung around and jumped down to her.

Skye saw that Scotty feared the worst and felt how she became a bit scared. This might be something that would leave them crippled, or it was only someone seeking contact.

Scotty had all his lads and lassies running around, checking everything, making sure that they had everything under control if it would be an attack. Within minutes reports from all engineering stations came to Scotty's PADD that they had everything up and running, in case of an attack.

Scotty took a deep breath when the intercom announced a message. It was ship-wide from the Captain.

"All hands, Yellow Alert. Standby for battle stations."

A yellow light came on everywhere, blinking and a warning signal sounded. On the main computer, which showed an image of the Enterprise, the shields were activated and the weapons were in preparation for being taken online.

"Make sure ya have yer laser and other reparation equipment on ya, lass. If this becomes bad, ya will need them." Scotty put on his utility belt with additional lasers and other items, and also a phaser, just in case.

Skye checked her belt, seeing that everything was in place. She stood by Scotty's side and looked at the screen where they now could see the unidentified ship close in on Enterprise. It was 50.000 kilometers away and closing in fast.

Suddenly the screen sounded an alert and Scotty shouted.

"It has loaded its weapons!"

"All hands, Red Alert! Battle stations!" Kirk's voice was on the edge.

Three seconds later the whole ship shook when a torpedo hit the shields. Some stumbled into each other and some ended up on the floor. Scotty had taken hold of Skye when the torpedo hit, so they were still standing.

"Shields down at 74%! That was a big torpedo." The bridge announced. "Another one is being launched."

"Scotty! Give me more power to the shields!" Kirk shouted.

"Aye Captain!" Scotty went to the power controls and pushed a few buttons to override the power-distributors'. "Up on 84%, that's all I can give ya!" He shouted back.

"Brace for impact!"

Chaos.

The torpedo had hit engineering with full force, penetrating the shields and ripping up a hole in the aft compartment. The emergency plates slid into place before anyone could be sucked out in space, though it was close for a few.

Sparks flew everywhere, a few panels ceased to function and the generator closest to Scotty blew up.

Scotty flew into a wall on the other side, lying lifeless on the floor. Keenser rushed to him, and saw that he was still alive, though he had a gash on his forehead and a piece of the generator sticking out of his mid-section. The little alien took a hold of his friend, pulling him away from a burning control panel.

Skye saw that Scotty was down, took a deep breath and began shouting out orders.

"Call for medical, tell them that Mr. Scott is injured and needs immediate assistance." She pointed to an Ensign who nodded and rushed to the nearest intercom.

"Locate all faulty conduits and seal them! Re-route the power to the shields and the weapons array!"

Skye saw how they jumped and ran to do as she commanded. Slowly the ship came under control and the fires were extinguished.

"All hands, yellow alert. Enemy ship is retreating." The relieved voice of Kirk came through a frizzing communication line.

"Start cleaning the mess up and begin repairs. Report all damages to me." Skye wiped her forehead of the thin sheen of sweat she had gotten during last few minutes. She saw how Doctor McCoy and a few nurses had come down and was lifting Scotty up on a stretcher.

She walked up to them and looked down at Scotty. He had come to now, and was a bit confused.

"What happened lass?" He said groggily and tried to sit up, but a nurse stopped him.

"The generator you were close to blew up and you were thrown into a wall. You were knocked out and you have a piece of the generator in your mid-section." She glanced down to the wound in his stomach.

Scotty looked down and saw the piece of metal poke out.

"Oh." He said and closed his eyes. "Take care of her lass; I know she's in good hands."

The male nurses lifted the stretcher and carried him to the turbo lift. McCoy turned to check Skye over and saw a small cut on her fore-head. He moved his tricorder over her and she was okay, her adrenaline level was off the chart, but so was everyone's.

"Get up to medical later, I'll clean up your cut then." He turned to the lift. "Good that you called me down here, we stabilized him, so he will be back on duty in a few days."

"Thank you, Doctor." She smiled and turned back to the chaos. "Come on Keenser, we have an engine to fix."

The little alien trotted after her and began to work on a malfunctioning panel.

---

An hour later, the mess the explosion had made was cleaned up. Most of the damage had been repaired and the dilithium chambers worked hard to restore the lost power.

One thing bothered Skye. The generator that had blown up and injured Scotty, it had not been connected to any of the conduits that exploded when the torpedo hit them. It should have been unaffected by the impact.

"Lieutenant, look here!" Ensign Carter called Skye over. When she came to his location by the exploding generator, he pointed to some shredded metal and wires. "Is that what I think it is?" He asked when Skye crouched over it.

"Maybe. Keep quiet about it for now, and get me a small container, the non-see-through kind, please." She pulled on her working gloves and picked the shreds up, turning them over. No question about it, this was what it looked like.

Ensign Carter came with the container she had asked for and put all the pieces that she thought belonged to it in there. Then she sealed it and added her personal code to it, just so no one could tamper with it until she had gotten it to the Captain and the head of security.

"Not a word yet. Or I'll have you court-martial." She said seriously, looking at him. The Ensign gulped and nodded.

"_All senior officers to the Captain's ready-room... Oh, and you too Lieutenant Archer."_ Kirk said over the speakers. He must have heard that Scotty was in the sickbay being treated. So she had to go up there and report how far they had gotten and what damage they had sustained.

"DeSalle!" She called out in engineering and found the man sitting on a walk-way above her, repairing a conduit. He was a big man, broad shoulders and a sharp chin. He had dark-brown short hair and kind blue eyes, but he was one you didn't mess around with and he knew his way around the engine.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" He nodded to her.

"Make sure the repairs continue, I'll leave the engineering to you for a while." Skye took the container under her arm and headed to the turbo lift.

"Aye." He looked around and saw some slacking off. "You heard the Lieutenant, back to repairing!" He growled and looked intensely on the slackers. They scurried away and continued.

---

Skye put the container down on the floor for a brief second. And she began to dust off her jacket and pants. They were covered in debris and dirt, some oil and other fluids. Her hair was a mess, though it still was up in the bun she had made this morning, strands hanging out here and there, and she hadn't the time to fix it, so she let it be.

Picking up the container, she took a deep breath when she stepped out on deck 2, and turned the corner to enter the ready-room.

The door opened when she stepped close to it and she entered. She was the dirtiest one of them all. All of them had maybe a smudge or two, but they had barely gotten a hit from the torpedo up here, as they had tried to knock out the propulsion systems first.

All of them sat around the table already; Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Chekov and McCoy.

"Welcome Lieutenant, have a seat." Kirk pointed to a chair between Spock and McCoy and she sat down, putting the container on the table in front of her.

"You brought me a present? How nice." Kirk grinned.

"You might not like it, Captain." She said seriously.

Spock was curious of what she had in the container, but he was also worried of her. When he had seen that the engineering had been hit and the shields had been breached by that torpedo, his mind had played numerous of scenarios of how they would report her injured or even dead. But he had calmed down and reached out with their bond, and he had felt that she was alive. Tired and scared, but alive.

"So, that ship was a kind of war-bird, but not marked as a Klingon or a Romulan one. It was just testing us out, seeing if we had any weaknesses, and then they disappeared somewhere." Kirk said solemnly.

"The sensors had problems penetrating their shields, and we could not see what kind of life forms it was that controlled the ship. The sensors registered two life forms onboard, but nothing more specific." Spock continued.

"So, how's it going in engineering?" Kirk looked at Skye who rose and walked to the screen, showing an overview of the ship.

"The first torpedo was stopped by the shields; it only jostled the ship around. The second torpedo hit us here, in the aft compartment. Knocking out several auxiliary relays, but fortunately only touched the main ones." She pointed to the aft of the ship, on the left side, on the engineering deck.

"Deck 16 and 17 only got minor damages, some conduits overloaded and the hull got a few scratches."

"We just got a new coating…" Kirk pouted and everyone chuckled at him. Skye smirked and continued.

"We lost a section of the outer hull on deck 15, but we have no casualties, as the emergency plates closed immediately after the breech."

"Lucky us…" McCoy murmured, he didn't like losing any one onboard.

"Only Scotty took the worst, as the generator he stood by blew up and caused him to be thrown into a wall."

"And get a piece of the damn thing in his stomach." McCoy growled. "It took me thirty minutes to pull it out so he wouldn't bleed to death."

"Yeah, and about that generator…" She took the container and stood in the middle, so everyone could see; she pushed in her code on the container and opened the lid. She took out everything inside and laid it in the middle of the table.

A shredded pipe, looking as something had blown up in it, making the ends stick out, some wires connected to a detonator and a small glass-cylinder, melted of the explosion.

"The generator was not connected to those conduits that the torpedo blew up, but yet it did explode. And I think that this is the reason why…"

Spock stood up and looked at the shredded parts.

"A primitive contraption; a pipe-bomb." He said seriously.

Kirk stood up and stared at the bomb parts. It was like he tried to see who had made this only by looking at the thing.

"Who else knows about this?" He asked, and looked straight at Skye.

"Ensign Carter, but I told him that I'd court-martial him if he told anyone."

"Good. This stays here, for now. I hope this is a onetime event." He looked at the others. "Spock, can you configure the internal sensors to detect more of these? If there are any onboard?"

"I will analyze the apparatus and see if there are any traceable components left." He reached out to lift the items back in the container, but stopped and looked at Skye. "Could you place the parts in the container once more, Lieutenant, as you have gloves on?"

"Of course Commander." She did as he had asked and closed the lid.

"Could you also put your gloves in there, as some traces might have stuck on the material?"

Skye nodded and opened the box again, pulled off her gloves and placed them inside. Closing the lid once more, she pushed the container over the table to Spock, letting him add his code to the container.

"Alright, let's bet back to work. Lieutenant, keep me posted about engineering's progress." Kirk nodded to her with a smile.

"Yes, sir." She nodded and turned to leave.

"And Lieutenant…"

"Yes?"

"Good work down there, I know Scotty will be proud of you."

"Thank you sir."

Skye left the ready-room and was followed by Spock. They both stepped in and Spock asked for deck 7 and Skye for deck 15.

Not caring for once, he ordered the turbo-lift to stop and Spock let the container drop to the floor carelessly to the floor. Then he pulled Skye close and just held her there.

Skye was surprised at first, but then she relaxed in his arms, pushed up on her toes and raised her arms to wrap around his neck. She leaned her head to his and she felt him bury his face in her neck and inhale. She closed her eyes and realized that he must have had a moment of absolute terror when he saw how the torpedo hit the engineering deck, and he did not know if she had been hurt or even worse; dead.

"It's okay Spock. I'm here, I won't leave you." Skye winced a bit when she felt his fingers dig into her upper back, as he made sure she was really there, and not lost to him.

He did not speak for a moment; he just held her close, feeling her presence, taking in her scent as he had done many times, insuring himself that she really was there.

"I had a brief moment of not knowing if you were alive." He murmured against her skin. "I saw several scenarios in my mind, where I was told of different levels of injuries you had sustained. And the most horrid one was when they pronounced you deceased."

"_K'diwa_…" She whispered. "I am well, and so are you. That's all that counts." She pulled away a bit and nudged her lips against his.

Spock let his human side come to the front and he kissed her with intensity, feeling her and just making sure she was here and his alone. Skye was surprise of his ferocity, almost like he had been when they first bonded, possessive and caring at the same time.

"I want to see you… tonight." He stated and pressed her against the wall of the lift. "I need you." His voice was low and sent shivers down Skye's spine.

"Alright… come by my quarters then." She kissed him gently and caressed his cheek, seeing how he calmed down slightly.

Spock nodded and stepped away from her. He corrected his uniform and picked up the container. Skye smoothed out her uniform as well, not feeling rejected by him, as she knew he was just distancing himself a bit, getting control over his emotions before ordering the lift to resume to its destinations.

As the lift slowed to deck 7, Skye touched Spock's arm and squeezed it lightly.

"I'll get off my shift around 1900hours. I'll send you a message when I'm in my quarters."

"Thank you." Spock nodded and stepped out, a few Ensigns stepped in and the lift was in motion once more.

---

Goddammit! They had found pieces of his bomb. Not good.

If they found a way to track the bombs he had made. Then all would be for nothing.

Making a risky decision, he made his way to the closest free control panel. There he made a script, telling the computer so slowly drain the sensors of power. If it worked as he wanted it to, then it would not be discovered until tomorrow morning, as they had their hands full with the other repairs.

---

Skye was beat; she had repaired everything that was essential for the ship to run smoothly. Now there were only minor repairs and that could the night-shift take care of.

Stepping into the turbo lift, Skye asked for deck 7, she wanted to see if Scotty was awake or just hear how he was.

Entering sickbay, Skye looked around and saw a few nurses sitting and doing reports, McCoy sat in his office to the right, head down over a PADD and fully focused on it.

Looking to her left, Skye saw the bio-beds in another room to her left and peeked in. she saw Scotty lying on one of the beds and she stepped in, walking to his side.

She saw that he had regained some color in his face and he looked calm where he was. Touching his hand, she felt him grab hold of hers.

He opened his eyes a bit. "Lass?" He murmured.

"It's me Scotty." She smiled and moved her thumb over his hand.

"How is she?" He asked, wanting to know how much of his beloved ship there was left.

"Just fine. Some scratches along the side on deck 16 and 17. Engineering took the worst, the emergency plates came into place, and the auxiliary relays in the aft section is fried, but are being replaced as we speak."

"Who's watching her now?"

"DeSalle, he's been really helpful today."

"The generator that blew…"

"I know; we found evidence of sabotage. It's all being taken care of, so rest now. I'll take Keenser up here tomorrow morning, he wants to see you."

"Thank you lass, ya are a miracle." He smiled and closed his eyes and let the sedatives do their job and help him sleep.

Skye pulled up the sheets over him and looked at him for a moment, before turning around to leave and faced a grim looking Doctor.

"Visiting hours is over."

"I know, I just wanted to see how he was."

"Sit." He pointed to a bio-bed in the examining room, where she first had entered.

Skye sighed and knew it was futile to resist. Sitting down on the bed, she put her hands in her lap and sat still while he pulled out his tricorder.

"You haven't cleaned the cut."

"You didn't tell me to."

"It shouldn't be needed."

"I was needed in engineering."

"Then take care of yourself, or else you will lie next to Scotty if this would be infected." He grumbled.

"Please Doctor, can you fix me up?" She said and smiled tiredly.

"Only since you ask so nicely." He moved to a cabinet and pulled out some things. "The old fashion way then…" He grinned and took out a piece of cotton and some liquid antiseptic.

"Won't that sting?" She looked suspiciously on the moist piece of cotton as he closed in.

"A bit, but you deserve it." He pressed down on her forehead with the piece and saw her wince when the antiseptic came into contact with her cut.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She hissed.

"Yes." He said and cleaned the wound from dirt. Then he took out his dermal-regenerator and moved it two times over the cut, sealing it shut.

"Thank you…" She mumbled and rubbed the place where the cut had been. "Oh, I have a question for you."

"Yeah?" He pulled out his PADD and began on another report.

"You know that hypo we females get when we begin Star Fleet, do I need to take another one soon?" She looked a bit awkwardly at him.

McCoy didn't look up; he just accessed her medical log and looked it over. When he answered, he still had his eyes on the PADD.

"No, you are good to go for another year."

"Thank you. Have a good evening." She jumped off the bed and headed out through the doors.

"Green-blooded hobgoblin… you have a good _night_ ahead of you…" He murmured to himself and tried to shake the images it produced from his mind. Small Spock's running around the whole ship…

---

Spock had been pacing in his room for almost an hour now. He was slightly agitated and could not be at ease, not even meditation helped. He stopped pacing for a brief moment.

"Computer, time?" He asked.

"1943hours." It answered to him.

Just as he had begun pacing yet again, his PADD announced an incoming message.

Almost jumping on the poor device, Spock pressed to open the message. Immediately after he had finished reading it, he stepped out from his quarters and headed to the turbo-lift.

---

Skye had sent Spock her message when she left the turbo-lift on her way to her quarters. Sighing and stretching out her sore muscles, she pushed off her boots, socks and pulled the uniform shirt over her head.

The clips holding her hair up fell down on the floor, releasing her hair. Picking the clips up, she placed them on a shelf and then she pulled off her black under-shirt. Letting her fingers run through her hair, she shook it and let it fall freely over her shoulders.

When she had her hands on the zipper to her pants, the door announced a visitor.

"Enter." She said and saw her husband step in.

Spock saw his _adun'a,_ her soft body, her eyes shine with love for him, her disheveled hair, everything that was his. She was his, and no one else had a claim over her.

"You are tense, _k'diwa_. I can feel it from here." Skye held out her arms and Spock wasted no time to get closer to her.

He pressed as close as he could get, breathing deeply and buried his face in her neck for the second time that day. Opening his eyes, he saw the strap to her brassiere and he lifted his hands to the clasp and opened it.

Skye felt her bra loosen and just smiled. Spock would lead tonight, and she would follow.

Turning her around in his arms, he pressed her back against his chest and let his hands find the button and zipper of her black pants. Opening them, he pushed them down over her hips, but he made sure her panties were left on. He took a hold of her brasserie and pulled it off, throwing it on the floor where the pants now were.

Then, he smoothed his hands over her hips and waist, moving slowly up, while he did that, he kissed and tasted her neck, finding a few of her spots to torment.

Skye had closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of his hands and mouth on her. When she felt how his hands came to the underside of her breasts, they stopped and caressed her slowly. Arching her back a bit, she gave him more room to kiss her neck and shoulder and she hoped he would touch her breasts, as she felt like they craved his touch.

Spock smiled against her skin, tasting her, feeling how her scent changed the more he touched her. Hearing her voice plead with him in his mind, he let his hands slide up over her breasts and covered them gently. He used his thumbs to slowly caress her nipples, which grew tauter under his touch.

She moaned softly and turned slightly in his arms, bending her head so she could access his mouth and she pressed her lips to him. Skye nudged her tongue against his lips and he opened, deepening the kiss, and at the same time, he let his right hand slide down over her stomach, softly touching her, staying just under her navel and then he let his hand rest against her soft mound, pressing ever so gently.

"Spock…" She hissed lowly and pushed her hips against his hand. "I want you…"

He rubbed slowly and pressed down a bit more, and he felt how she got moist under the remaining piece of fabric. He lost his focus when she pushed back against him; rubbing her backside to his groin, and making him feel some of the pressure he applied to her.

Moving her closer to the bed, he turned her around and lowered her down on the soft surface. Then he backed away and pulled off his uniform shirt and undershirt in one move. Throwing them on the floor, he stared at her with burning eyes, seeing her as a feast for his hungry body.

Skye looked at her Vulcan and felt nothing but desire and love for him. She wanted him to be close, to feel his warm skin against hers and to be joined. Smoothing down her hands over her body, lingering over her breasts a second longer, and then moving down to her panties, she pushed then lower in a slow pace, during which time she looked Spock in the eyes, seeing how he started to breathe faster and his eyes grew darker in the dim light of her quarters.

"_T'hy'la, _do not tease me." He said in a low voice and his hands was fisted around the hem of his pants, like he was about to lose control over himself.

"I need you, _k'diwa_. My own caveman…" Skye wanted him out of control; she needed him on edge once more. She had read the materials of Vulcan mating over dinner, and the first joining of bodies needed to be uncontrolled and rough. It was something primitive the Vulcan man could not escape, even if he wished to be gentle with his mate, he could not control the emotions hidden deep within.

Skye pushed down her panties in a swift motion and threw them on the floor, lying completely naked in front of him; she smiled mischievously at him and said.

"_Sarlah."_

Spock heard something shatter in his mind and he guessed it was his control over his emotions. He almost tore apart his pants to be able to get to his mate. When he had finally thrown away his pants on the floor, he stepped closer to the bed and looked at her like a predator eyed its prey.

Reaching out his hand to her, Skye met it with her two fingers and caressed him ardently and hooked them around his fingers, pulling him closer. Spock kneeled on the bed, next to her legs and Skye moved her outer leg to hook it around his hip, pulling him slightly closer, but Spock only moved an inch, and stayed almost perfectly still, though his chest rose with his deep breaths.

Taking a firm hold of her ankles, he moved his hands roughly over her legs and thighs, moving down and took a grip under her knees. He pulled her closer and pushed her legs apart. Then, Spock placed his hands next to her shoulders, leaning down over her and nudging her lips with his. Every time Skye tried to kiss him more, he pulled away, showing her who the dominating partner was tonight.

Flexing his hips, he touched her with himself, only letting her feel a bit of the want he had for her. Moving in closer, he lowered down on her, chest to chest, he felt her nipples push against him, and Skye tried to push her hips so they would finally be one. But he did not let her.

"Skye…" Spock was breathing hard and his voice was not the normal smooth one, instead his voice was filled with want, need and passion for her. "Do you want to join with me?" He growled and pushed his hips closer to hers.

"Oh god… Spock… Please…" She was burning up against him, he was so warm and she needed that warmth inside her.

Spock flexed his hips once more and slid into her. At the same time he pressed his right hand on her psi-points, letting their minds come together as one as well.

For a long moment, the couple just laid there, feeling the completion of their bond fall into place, just feeling each other at the closest they could be. Skye felt complete with him in her, he filled her amazingly well and her whole being felt at peace with him so close in both body and mind.

Spock lay as still as he could, his forehead buried in her shoulder as he coped with both his feelings and hers and their joined pleasure. Suddenly a flash of pain mingled with their pleasure, he rose up slightly and looked into her dark blue eyes. A tear had slid down from the corner of her right eye, signaling that she had felt his intrusion more than he had realized.

"_T'hy'la… Nam-tor nash-veh aksh'lz…"_ Spock shifted his weight slightly to pull out and she gasped, but wrapped her legs around him, holding him still.

"_Rai, k'diwa… T'nash-veh dvel-tor." _Skye pushed up on her arms and kissed him, assuring him that it was okay.

Spock was confused, he had hurt her in his ardor and she claimed it was okay; he failed to see her logic. Feeling her forehead touch his, he was flooded with emotions and understanding. She knew it would hurt her, and yet she let him, because she loved him and trusted him to inflict pain upon her, pain that was inevitable.

"_T'nash-veh wuh'rak…_" She whispered and clenched her muscles around him.

He gasped of surprise and his hips flexed involuntarily and pushed deeper inside her. She met him and pulled him close to kiss him, while she moved her hips against his.

He began to move with her, increasing his speed and alternating with different depths. He knew her sensitive spots on her body, but he had never explored this deeply inside her before, and he enjoyed 'mapping out' the uncharted territory. Spock found that if he tilted his hips upwards, Skye gasped more feverishly and bit her lip in pleasure.

Skye held a firm grip on his upper arms, feeling them flex under her fingers. Feeling close to the chasm, she wrapped her arms around him and dug in her short nails in his upper back, getting a hiss from him. Spock moved his arms and position, lifting her right leg up on his shoulder, completely changing his depth and made Skye moan in delight, almost leaping over the edge. But as she was about to fall into the deep pleasure, Spock slowed down his movements, almost stopping completely, but still moving in a very slow pace.

Spock had felt how her mind had become unfocused and starting to blend out all she was thinking of. She was close to her completion, but he had a bit longer to go, as he had more endurance than human males.

"Tease…" Skye gasped and tried to move her hips, but Spock held her down gently.

"_Ah_, but I want this to last…" He shifted again, making her hiss, but he laid down over her, without separating them. He kissed her and made slight movements with his hips, just so they could be close.

"Teasing Vulcan…" Skye smirked and reached up to kiss his neck, then she moved up and caressed the tip of his ear with her tongue.

He hissed again, feeling how he got closer to completion, but it was still not enough. He needed something more.

Skye felt restless, she had been so close and he stopped before she came. Rolling her hips, she clenched her muscles around him, feeling him stiffen and he looked at her with a dark passion in his eyes. He hissed again and lifted himself up on his arms, and began to move harder within her. Skye arched her back and held on to him, feeling him as he let go of his final restraints.

It didn't take long for Spock now to feel an intense heat building up in his lower back, he increased his pace more. A thin sheen of sweat covered them both, their skin sliding deliciously against each other. Making deeper movements, Spock felt how Skye began to clench harder around him, making him fall over the edge with her. Groaning deeply, Spock pressed as deep as he could go and let his final restraint go.

Skye felt like a warm tidal wave swept over and through her body, and she clenched around him, drawing his liquid heat from him, feeling it and feeling him shudder as it left his body. He collapsed over her and

As Spock's body stilled over her, Skye held him close, breathing deeply and trying to hold on to the luscious feeling of euphoria. She felt him breathe hard and he pressed his face in the curve of her neck. As their breathing calmed, Skye stroked one hand over the long lines of his back, relaxing him more.

Spock tried to pull away, but Skye held on to him with her legs entwined around his, he did not want to crush her with his much heavier weight.

"You're not heavy, _k'diwa_." She kissed him languidly and rested her forehead against his for a moment, thanking him for his love and the pleasure he had given her.

Spock smiled gently, and caressed her softly, whispering endearments to her. Without leaving her, he pulled her with him, moving so they rested on their sides, and they slowly fell asleep, leaving the day behind them and focused on the presence of each other.

---

**They have now done the dirty deed ;) Finally together in both mind and body. Hope you liked it.**

**And poor Scotty, almost blown to smithereens. Poor guy. **

**And also action in this chapter, a strange vessel, with no recognizable marks… hmmm… who could that be?**

**Next chapter will introduce the main villain a bit more. Who do you think it is? Which race, and what will he do to poor Skye when he gets her? Tell me what you think and it might happen :P**

**Lunatic.**

**---**

Translations:

_Ah_ – yes

_Qual se tu?_ - Is it you? [tu is the intimate pronoun, the one reserved for one's t'hy'la.]

_T'hy'la_ - friend-lover-lifelong companion, blood brother/sister; soul mate; soul-brother/sister

_Shom_ – rest

_Ka'athyra_ - stringed instrument - stringed musical instrument like an electric harp; propped on the shoulder and sitting on the lap when playing

_Gespar_ - fruit - native fruit that tastes tangy and piquant; lives in temperate zone of Kir Province

_Rai_ - no - no; opposite of yes (VLI)

_Kum'i _- awake - not sleeping

_Var-tor_- tell - to give a detailed account of; narrate; to communicate by speech or writing; express with words (verb)

_Mene sakkhet ur-seveh_- 'live long and prosper'

_Sa-mekh_ – father

_T'sai _- lady

_Ax'nav _– child

_Fonn'es_ – loyalty - the state or quality of being loyal; a feeling or attitude of devoted attachment and affection

_Sarlah_ – come; move to

_Shaya tonat_ – thank you

_Na'shaya_ – welcome (I use it as 'you're welcome')

_Yuk-tor_ – sleep

_K'diwa_ – beloved - shortened form of address for beings who are each other's k'hat'n'dlawa; equated to the Terran term "beloved"

_K'hat'n'dlawa_ - half of each other's heart & soul - one who is 'half of my heart and soul in its deepest sense; became unfashionable after Reformation because of its emotional connotation

_K'vath_ – enter

_Sa'fu_ - son

_Pon'farr_ – mating time - Mating time, the entirety of the Vulcan mating phenomena

_Plak'tow_ – blood fever - the final part of pon'farr whereby the victim is rendered incapacitated and the only thought is to mate

_Lirpa_ - a traditional Vulcan melee weapon, consisting of a metal staff with a fan-shaped blade on one end and a club on the other

_kal'i'farr_ - marriage - the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife; the state of being married; wedlock

_Koon-ut-kal-if-fee_ - marriage challenge - place of - place of marriage or challenge (VLI) (anc.)

_Kal-if-fee_ - which literally translates as "challenge", is a Vulcan "passion fight" to the death

_ozh'esta_ - finger embrace - touching the index and middle fingers between bondmates and/or t'hy'la

_Fal'i'kal _- begin

_Taluhk nash-veh k'dular_ - I cherish Thee - a declaration of love between bondmates that is accepted by Vulcan society

_Kroykah_ - stop

_Hayal _- calm

_Adun'a_ – wife- a woman joined to a man in marriage; a female spouse

_Adun_ - husband - a man joined to a woman in marriage; a male spouse

_T'hy'la… Nam-tor nash-veh aksh'lz…_ - Life-mate... I am ashamed...

_Rai, k'diwa… T'nash-veh dvel-tor_ - No, beloved... My choice.

_T'nash-veh wuh'rak…_ - My first...

All these words are from the 'Vulcan Language Dictionary' (http : // www . starbase-10 . de / vld /)


	8. Darkness Within

**All rights to those who own Star Trek. I wish I was one of them.**

**All original characters belong to me.**

So, M-rating is applying again :P

Hope you like this chapter, lots of action.

Enjoy!

---

Chapter 8 – Darkness within

---

"_Report!"_

The dark voice cut through the com system on the smaller attack ship and made the pilot and the co-pilot jump slightly, as they both knew what the man behind the voice was capable of.

"All went as planned, my lord. Two torpedoes launched, the first configured to explode as it hit the shields and the second strong enough to penetrate and cause damage to the aft section of engineering deck."

"_Good, no penetration of their sensors?"_

"No, they saw only two life-forms, but they could not tell that it was us."

"_Even better. Fall back to meet with the main ship, we'll attack on the third day."_

"As you wish, my lord."

The bird-of-prey increased its speed and before it jumped to warp, it shimmered and blended with the stars, and no one noticed the ship as it jumped to warp.

---

Skye was both cold and warm. She frowned. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around in her quarters. Nothing seemed amiss, but she still was cold, and only on the front of her body. Glancing down on the floor, she saw her covers lying in a heap by the end of her bed. Trying to reach the covers with her foot first, she failed and sighed. Preparing her muscles to get up, she was stopped.

An arm had wrapped around her waist suddenly, and its hand twitched and curled under her. As her sleep-groggy mind began to clear up, she remembered Spock and their final bonding last night. She smiled and turned in his embrace. Snuggling up under his chin, she sighed happily. She felt so giddy somehow, almost like in one of the old movies, where the characters woke up happy and utterly in love.

But then she felt how the coldness in her room started to attack her bare behind and back. And she was reminded of why she woke up in the first place. Thinking back on the nights they had shared before, Skye knew that Spock always blocked her when she tried to leave the bed, almost like she was his big teddy bear or something. Maybe she could crawl her way downwards to slide out from his embrace?

Moving in a rather moderate pace, Skye inched down her bed and though Spock tried to pull her closer, she slid out of the bed and pulled her pillow along, leaving it in his embrace. And it seemed it would work, at least until she had used her bathroom.

When in the bathroom, Skye looked at her body, seeing some bruises on her arms and thighs, a few hickies on her shoulders and even one on her hip. Her hair was still a mess and she took a moment to brush it out, so it would not be too messy when she got up later.

Before stepping out of the bathroom, she checked the time, 0257hours. Just about three hours to sleep then. Turning off the light in the bathroom, she stepped out in the main area. She met the eyes of her mate, who lay on his side, looking intensely on her.

Spock had heard how a door was closed and he had roused then. As he found his bearings, he found that he held a pillow in his arms, and not his _t'hy'la_. She must have left him to use the bathroom. When she stepped out a few minutes later, he rested his head on his hand, leaning on his elbow for support.

"Could you not sleep?" He asked in a deep voice, thick with sleep.

"I could, but the covers were thrown off sometime during the night, so I woke up of the cold." Skye moved to the bed and picked up said covers. She shook them a bit and threw them over Spock, covering him up. Then she slid down next to him and let him pull her close.

Spock felt their link flare as they touched, she was safe and warm in his presence and she couldn't be happier. When he tried to remember their night together, he frowned when he recalled how ardent he had been, and his roughness.

"I did not injure you last night?" He asked and pushed down the covers a bit and saw a few bruises on her arm.

"No, sure you were… passionate, but I liked it. If I didn't you would have been sleeping on the floor by now." She smiled and kissed him gently.

"I am relieved." He said, kissed her forehead and closed his eyes.

---

The engine room felt as chaotic as it had been yesterday after the attack. Several reports came in, telling Skye that the effects after the second torpedo would not be a breeze.

The auxiliary systems that had been fried and was supposed to be repaired last night by the night-shift, had failed to connect properly, causing an overload first thing this morning and that all the generators on deck 15 was now on main power only, which meant that if the main power was blown to smithereens, then they would be drifting in space.

It was like the bomb had left residue energy, which blocked the normal energy flow in their conduits, resembling small gremlins wrecking havoc.

Skye was not a happy camper.

"Engineering?"

"What?!" Skye hissed to the bodiless voice in the inter-com.

"I think someone woke up on the wrong side today…" Kirk laughed.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I have problems up over my ears today." Skye sighed. "What can I do for you?"

"You could give me an answer to why the sensors, both external and internal, are beginning to lose their power to read data correctly?"

"One moment." Skye walked to her, Scotty's, main computer and pulled up the sensor readings. What she saw did not make her day better.

"God damn." She swore and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Lieutenant?"

"I can only tell you that this problem has existed throughout the night, and if I can't figure out why the sensor grid is behaving like this, we'll be guessing where we're going in about 6 hours." She sighed and saw the figures in front of her.

"Why wasn't this detected last night?"

"Because they were perfectly fine at the end of my shift, sir." She sat down on the chair by the computer and began to run a level 5 diagnostic. Then she initiated a level 4, and they both came back with the same answer; sensor grid fully functional.

"Captain, I need to do at least a level 2 diagnostic. 5 and 4 gave me the same result, and I'm presuming level 3 will do the same."

"Do it, but be quick about it." He said and ended the link.

Skye rose and looked around in engineering.

"Alright people, those of you who aren't working on the auxiliary relays, drop what you're doing and go to your posts for a level 2 diagnostic of the sensors. And make it quick."

At least twenty people dropped their current task and disappeared to different positions in the engine room and some left to go to other control-rooms, to monitor the diagnostic from there.

---

Two hours later, the diagnostic of the sensor grid was complete. The two hours had been well worth the wait, since they had found a script, which would slowly make the sensors short out over the entire ship.

"Archer to Captain Kirk." Skye smiled when she contacted him.

"Kirk here."

"Sensor grid fully functional now, sir."

"Good work." He paused. "Bring the results up here, Lieutenant. Kirk out."

Skye was a bit perplexed to why Kirk wanted her to come upstairs to report the results to him in person. But she shrugged and left engineering to DeSalle before she took the turbo-lifts up to the Bridge.

Once there, Kirk just nodded to her to follow, and he led her to his ready-room on deck 2. Just reaching out his hand for the PADD, Skye gave it to him and sat down on a chair, while he sat down in his and read through the result.

Fifteen minutes later, he looked up at her.

"Have you traced the source to this script?" He had a serious face.

"No, I was about to do that."

Kirk sighed.

"No, I'll give it to Spock. You have to get the auxiliary relays back online. We can't keep re-routing the power all the time."

"Yes, sir, though we would need to visit the local electrical store. The relays were pretty fried and I think Scotty would agree with me."

"I'll have Sulu and Chekov to find the closest mall for you. If there's anyone out here." He shook his head. "Oh, I have another thing to ask you, off the record."

"Yes?"

"What did you do to Spock? He's… happy and more accommodating than usual." He smirked.

"Nothing much, I'm just the happy girlfriend, giving him some love." She answered, as she did not know if Spock had told Kirk that they were bonded or not.

"And a blow-job or two." He said, but then he realized what he had blurted out and was struck with panic.

Her eyes grew dark in a nano-second and Skye marched up to Kirk and asked.

"Still off the record?"

Kirk nodded slowly, winced and prepared to be yelled at.

He didn't get it; instead, Skye slapped his cheek hard, leaving a red print.

"I don't care about your escapades Captain, nor should you care about his." Skye hissed, snatched the PADD from his hand and left the ready-room.

Kirk walked as calmly to his place on the bridge as he could, without looking at Spock, and trying to not turn the red cheek his way. He was too logical to not figure out where the print had come from.

'_Spock?'_ Skye had opened the link between them.

'_Yes, t'hy'la?'_

'_Take a look at your Captain's left cheek, and ask him why he got that.'_

Spock felt anger radiate from her part of the bond, mixed with a sense of vengeance, and he was curious to why she felt like that way. She blocked him to see why the anger had blossomed, but he had a hunch as he walked up to Jim's left side.

Kirk tried to hide his cheek in his hand, resting his elbow on the armrest, trying to make it look natural, but as he was right-handed, it didn't feel right.

"Captain, may I inquire to why you have a red mark on your cheek?" Spock asked coldly and knew instantly that Skye had hit her Captain.

"It was my fault, my mouth said something I shouldn't, and she retaliated. I am sorry."

"It's not me you should apologize to." Spock gave him the cold shoulder and walked back to his station.

Kirk sank down in his chair a bit, trying to hide from Spock and ordered Chekov to locate the nearest trading outpost.

---

The bird-of-prey had arrived to the coordinates of the 'mother-ship'. The space seemed a bit darker than normal, and the small moon orbiting a dead planet looked like it had been used for target practice. It was half of the orb it used to be, debris floating around and beginning to fall to the dead planet, slowly burning.

"Dalma-1 to Home. Permission to link."

"_Home to Dalma-1, permission granted. Use main bay, docking port 1."_

The small vessel accelerated and rounded the destroyed moon, and was greeted by the vision of a large ship, almost as large as the Enterprise, but it was not as agile, nor was it slim. It was quite bulky and big, but it did the damage it was constructed for.

It was not to attack the Enterprise, no; the bird-of prey's had that job. And the final test run had been successful.

As the docking bay opened, the two pilots could see the other bird-of-prey, resting and waiting to get out and stretch their wings. All together was this flock made up of 12 ships, all fitted with the same torpedoes that had penetrated the engineering deck last night.

If all went as planned, with their little spy, they would not have to fire the weapons much and just act threatening and aggressive, holding the Star Fleet vessel at bay, while they secured the 'cargo' they wanted.

---

"Ya did the right call, lass. These relays are fried and need to be replaced." Scotty sat in a chair by his main-computer and looked over the damage done by the torpedo. He looked really happy to be back in his engine room, finding comfort in the sounds and lights down here.

McCoy had let him leave sickbay, or rather kicked him out, when he had found Scotty underneath one of the bio-beds tinkering with it, he had yelled at him to stay in bed, but twenty minutes later, Scotty had been up and repairing a blinking panel. Skye was to do all the hard work and Scotty was not to do anything more than to use the computer. No lifting or running around.

"Scotty!" Kirk had come down to engineering and smiled at his miracle-worker.

"Capt'n." Scotty smiled and 'oof'ed' when Kirk slapped his back a little too hard.

"Sorry about that." He glanced nervously at Skye, who huffed and turned her attention to her PADD. "I came down to tell you that Chekov has located an outpost, and they appear to have what we seek…" Kirk trailed off.

"Ah sense a '_but_' comin'…" Scotty sighed.

"A big one, they want a full container of dilithium, a dozen phaser rifles and the schematics of the matter/antimatter reactor."

Scotty shook his head.

"Leeches, that's what they are. No helping the one in need…"

"The first two I'm willing to part with, but the schematics…" Kirk sighed. "If we don't get new relays, couldn't we take some from another department?"

"Aye, we could. But it will come and bite us in the ass, pardon me language. There would always be a section missing the auxiliary power then. And if there's another attack, then what would happen?"

"You're right. We have to bargain with them. We'll be there in about an hour."

"I'll figure something out, Capt'n." Scotty nodded.

Kirk sighed and left to go back to his post, hoping they could solve this.

"Too bad we couldn't give off some charm, like the Orion women, and then we could have the relays for next to nothing." Skye murmured, sighed and went back to her diagnostic report of the warp-coils.

Scotty sat and thought really hard, until her words twisted into a plan in his mind and a mischievous smile lit up and his eyes glowed.

Skye should have been more attentive to what her superior was doing, but she never knew what hit her, until a small container of old-fashioned black oil was thrown at her, making the whole front of her red jacket turn black and gooey.

"Scotty?! What the hell?" Skye stood there, staring at her chief mechanic like he had grown two heads. Most of the engineering stared at their superior officer in awe and many laughed and chuckled at Skye's predicament.

Scotty laughed too.

"All part of the plan, lass."

"What plan?" She yelled and looked around to see if she could find something to wipe the worst off with. She found an old rag underneath Scotty's desk and tried to get as much off, but it all smeared out and her jacket was a mess with black parts, and the red peaking out here and there. "I didn't hear you come up with a plan. And not one where I get covered in oil."

"The plan where ya will play the loving Orion girl, without the green skin of course, so ya can get us some relays to a fair price." He winked and chuckled. "You lassie, will play the cute assistant, who don't know a thing about engines, and must have everything explained, and when they tell ya, ya giggle and tell them how smart they are, and when the price comes up, ya will ask them if they can't do anything about that, and we'll get the relays cheaper than nothing."

"And how can I do that when I'm all covered in oil?" She threw the rag in a garbage bin and shook her head.

"Ya will be wearing that little lassie uniform, of course!" He said as it had been totally obvious. "Go on, get clean and sparkly, ya have an hour to get fixed up."

"I hate you." Skye pouted, but she knew it was a good idea, if she could pull it off.

"Nah, ya don't. Ya thank me later." He waved DeSalle over and handed the lad a PADD, so he could do Skye's work while she was gone. "Oh, and let your hair down, both literally and figuratively, and we'll get those relays."

Skye sighed and went to the turbo-lift.

On deck 10, the lift stopped and Janice Rand stepped in.

"Wow, that's the new uniforms?" She grinned.

"No, just Scotty's version of a plan."

Janice was confused and didn't understand what Skye meant. So Skye began to explain, and when she had finished, Janice smiled.

"So you'll be 'bait' and play the innocent woman, who hasn't a clue about engineering?"

"Yes, if I can pull it off, then we might not have to part with too much as a payment."

"Well, in your current fashion-mode, no offense, you won't even be able to charm the socks of a Vulcan male." Janice looked at Skye, her non-existent make-up, her secured hair-style, and shook her head.

"My former roommate, Emiko would love to be here now; she loved to 'doll' me up."

"I can do that, if you want?" Janice smiled in the exact same way as Emiko used to, when ever Skye allowed her to work her magic on her.

"I'll regret this, but okay." They stopped on deck 5 and walked to Skye's quarters. "You don't have anything else to do?"

"Nah, I have done the reports the Captain wanted me to do, and I should get them to him, but I know that he'll leave them on his desk and read them in the last minute anyway."

"Okay, thank you for helping me."

"Darling, don't thank me yet…" Janice grinned as the door closed behind them.

---

Scotty had been cleared by a reluctant Doctor McCoy to be able to go to the trading outpost, which only could be entered by shuttle crafts, due to their transporter dampening shielding.

Now Scotty was standing with the Captain, Spock and Sulu, the latter would be accompanying him and Skye to the outpost, together with Ensign Addams, Lieutenant Kinshar and Lieutenant Giotto, the five would deal with the traders.

They were currently orbiting the outpost and were waiting in the shuttle bay for Skye, who was late by a minute. The both Vulcan men sighed internally, knowing that humans often were a minute late or so.

When the door to the shuttle bay opened, all six men inhaled and their eyes widened slightly. The normally immaculately dressed Lieutenant Archer, usually wearing pants and the slightly more loose fitting jacket, wore a women's uniform, which was about an inch shorter than the formal dress uniform.

The stretchy fabric followed her curves to a t, showing her feminine assets for all to see. She had been styled with some make-up, making her eyes look bigger, and the blue eye-shadow accented her blue eyes. Soft pink lip-gloss touched her lips, shining in the lights. And her hair had been brushed to shine and it had been released from its normal up-do, and curled in soft locks, which bounced on her shoulders as she walked to the shuttle.

All the men couldn't help but looking at her long legs, and her swinging hips. Spock knew he had the right to look at her, but he didn't want to look like Jim did, almost drooling over her features. But he also wanted to order Skye to put on her normal pants, since the other looked at her like she was a fine steak on the dinner table. Oh well, she was his and both Jim and he knew it.

She had a small shoulder bag hanging from her shoulder, which contained a PADD and a smaller tricorder. When approaching the group of men, Skye pulled in her skirt, hoping it could cover more than it already did.

"Perfect, lass!" Scotty smiled and offered her his arm, inviting her onboard the shuttle.

Skye took his arm, smiled to the other men, but when she met Kirk's eyes; her smile was turned into a frown, she still waited for an apology. She let Scotty take her to the shuttle.

"Don't worry Capt'n; we'll get the things we need." Scotty assured Kirk.

Spock turned to the two security red-shirts and said.

"If you suspect any problems, return to the ship immediately." Then he turned to Kinshar. "If their 'plan' fails, use your logic."

"Yes, Commander." He replied.

All five boarded the shuttle and Spock and Kirk saw how it flew off out in space, and hopefully returning without any problems and with the relays they needed.

---

Three hours later, Spock was quite agitated, due to Skye's emotions that leaked over through their bond. He had felt disgust, amusement, horror and even some curiosity.

He was trying to perform his duties on the bridge, but he found it hard to concentrate with her feelings swimming around in his head. When she returned, he would give her a lesson in emotional control, so she would be able to conceal her emotions and contain them, so they would not 'leak' out over their bond as much. He would still be able to feel her presence, but he would be saved from head-aches. Like the one he was feeling at the moment.

"Sulu to Enterprise."

"Go ahead Sulu." Kirk replied.

"We're on our way back, and we have what we need." The smile was heard in his voice, but also a faint amusement was there.

"Good work, we'll leave as soon you're onboard. Kirk out."

Kirk turned in his chair and looked to Spock and nodded. Spock rose and left the bridge.

When the doors to the turbo lift had closed, Kirk sighed and shook his head; the mood on the bridge was more eased now after Spock had left. Who would have thought that a man in control of his emotions could affect other people's emotions?

---

'_T'hy'la, are you alright?'_ Spock thought through their link and felt her assurance circle around him.

'_Yes, I'm on my way to my quarters, I have to get out of this 'uniform'.'_ She was frustrated and relieved the mission was over.

Spock re-directed the lift and stepped out on her deck. Accessing her quarters, he found Skye barefoot and on her way to step out of her feminine uniform.

"I am never doing that again." She pushed down the uniform on the floor and kicked it to a corner. She sat down heavily on her bed and fell down on her back, sighing and closing her eyes.

"What happened?" Spock stepped up to her and fell down on his knees in front of her and laid his hands on her thighs, caressing them slowly.

Skye wiggled a bit on the bed, and moaned when she felt him touch her softly.

"I played an ignorant woman, who 'loved' the big hairy men of the trading outpost. Yuk, you should have seen them, dirty, hairy and no sense of personal hygiene; a mix of Klingons and their pets."

"I see…" He murmured and let his lips taste her soft skin.

"Yeah, and they pawed on me, slapping my butt a few times, and if I smacked them, the deal would have been off. So I had to giggle and pretend to enjoy it." She sighed in frustration and really felt how tense she was.

All that she had wanted to do was to take a phaser and stun them, grab what they needed and run away from there.

Spock felt her frustration and how edgy she was, and he decided to help her relax, in a more intimate way than just soft caresses.

He gripped her underwear with both hands and pulled them down in one swift movement. This made Skye gasp with surprise and another; deeper gasp, which ended in a moan, came from her lips as Spock lowered his mouth to her most intimate area.

Her right hand moved to his head, trying to coax him to move away before they had gone too far, but he didn't move, and wrapped his arms around her thighs, so she could not move more than he allowed.

'_T'dular sanosh, t'hy'la…'_ His voice echoed in her mind.

Skye gasped again, and tried to move her hips, but Spock held her down, not letting her escape the intense feelings he created in her. Without knowing it, Skye gave him directions on how Spock should move, through their bond. Even though she was deeply submerged in pleasure, her mind subconsciously begged him to move to different sensitive spots, press harder or just barely tease her. It was something he had decided to keep to himself, a secret, but not a big one, if she would ask how he was so good with this, he would tell her the truth, but so far in their relationship, she had not.

Just before he felt she was on her way over the edge, he felt her sit up slightly and gasp out:

"Spock… stop…"

Spock was surprised; she had never asked him to stop before. Was he too aggressive?

"Did you not enjoy it?"

"Yes…" Skye was out of breath and her eyes were glazed over with a haze of lust. "But… I want you, within me Spock."

Wasting no time, Spock moved up more, pulling Skye down a bit over the edge of the bed. He then pushed down his pants, freeing his aching length from its confines and pushing close to Skye.

"I do not deserve you…" He whispered and entered her swiftly, resting inside her for a brief moment, and then he pulled out, only to return in a swift pace.

Meeting him, Skye felt how they both were on the edge and it did not take long this time to fall over it for them both.

Spock groaned and laid down over her, careful of his weight, since Vulcan's has denser body mass, and are therefore heavier than a human.

They did not speak, they lay there and basked in the afterglow, feeling each other, and the bond between them spoke more than words could tell.

---

Later that afternoon, Skye was humming to herself while she completed a diagnostic on the new auxiliary relays, she was happy and satisfied, and nothing could make her feel otherwise at this moment.

She was wrong.

"All hands, battle stations. Our friends from yesterday are back, and they brought some friends." Kirk was on edge and the whole ship rushed to action.

Up on the bridge, it was a tense moment as twelve war birds dropped out of warp in front of the Enterprise, all sensors indicated that they were armed and ready.

"They're hailing us, Captain." M'Ress, the new communications officer announced. M'Ress was a Caitian, with cat-like features.

"On screen."

"Greetings, Captain of the Enterprise." A dark voice greeted and out from the shadows a humanoid male came forth.

He was a Cardassian, with the characteristic grey skin, two thick vertical neck ridges that receded back to the crown of his head and an inverted tear-shaped ridge in the center of his forehead. The ridge was thickest immediately above the eyes, protecting him and his species and created an especially deep-set appearance.

In the Alpha Quadrant, the Cardassians were known to be most ruthless and enemies to the Federation and the Klingons.

"May I ask why you come with an entire nest of birds, with their beaks poised to an attack?" Kirk was dead serious and hoped that this could be solved fairly quickly.

"Well, Captain, you have something that I want. Or two things actually." He grinned with an evil smile.

"And what could that be?"

"You'll see…" He laughed and ended the link.

Kirk turned to Spock and asked him.

"Do we have something the Cardassians want?"

"Not to my knowledge, Captain."

Suddenly, the ship shook as if fired upon.

"Report!"

"It came from deck 7, the transporters are offline." Chekov called out.

Three more times the ship shook.

"Phaser control-room is down, communications are fried and the warp-core is almost offline."

"What the hell is happening? Does internal communication work?"

"Yes, sir."

"Scotty, what's happening down there?"

"Bombs, Captain. We're going down from within."

"Damn it all." He hissed.

Total chaos was once more upon the Enterprise. Within ten minutes, two generators were blown up and one of the nacelles ceased to function.

Another, less important alarm began to buzz and Chekov found it odd that it would be compromised in this moment.

"Keptain, there is an unauthorized access in kargo bay 4."

"Who is it?"

"Ensign Vice and… Lieutenant Archer, sir…" He turned and looked at his Captain, who was as confused as he was.

"Spock?"

But Spock was already on his way to the lift, his phaser in his belt and a determined look in his eyes.

Kirk swore and rushed after his friend.

"Sulu, you have the Conn."

---

"Why are you doing this, Damien?" Skye's hands shook as she pulled out the small container from a shelf.

"Well, it gets me more than the job here." He grinned and waved the phaser at her. "Open it."

Skye put the container on a table and looked at the combination lock. She had trouble to think, her mind was frazzled and it didn't help when he pointed the gun at her.

Damien had taken advantage of all the commotion and pulled Skye with him under gun-point. He had forced her to open the cargo bay and find the container she had in front of her.

"Open it, I said!"

"Stop yelling!" She met his eyes with anger and fear in hers. "I can't think with you pointing that gun at me."

A sound made them both look up and direct their gaze to the doors of the cargo bay.

"We'll take care of this when we get back to 'Home'." Damien lifted the crate and put it in her arms. "If you drop it, I'll kill you." He hissed and pulled Skye in front of him, just before the doors opened and Kirk, Spock and several security personnel came in.

"Vice, let her go." Kirk said calmly and moved slowly closer to them.

"Back off, or she'll end up dead." Vice warned and pointed the gun to Skye's head.

Spock felt rage flood his mind, body and soul. He wanted to rip the insolent whelp to pieces and then hold Skye close and never let her feel any harm again. He felt the fear from her, she was terrified, both for her sake, but also for his.

'_Spock… he will take me to 'Home'… I love you so much…"_ Her mind was chaotic, pieces of information floated to him, showing him numbers of the container she held, something Ensign Vice called 'Home', he threatening her to open it, her shaking hands and the love she felt for Spock.

Another explosion was heard, but this time it came from the outside.

"That's my cue…" Vice smiled and felt the familiar tingle of a transport. "Bye, bye…"

Both Vice and Skye was disintegrated in a green-purple light and soon they were gone.

Spock tried to feel Skye, but it was like she had been cut off from him.

She was gone.

---

**Muhahahaaha, she's gone.**

**Evil plot bunnies.**

**Hope you liked.**

**Lunatic.**


	9. Terror & Despair

**All rights to those who own Star Trek. I wish I was one of them.**

**All original characters belong to me.**

A bit shorter than the others, but my inspiration has been low recently. Maybe you have some ideas?

Enjoy!

---

Chapter 9 – Terror & Despair

---

Skye had never been so terrified in her life.

Dark walls surrounding her in the small aft compartment she had been thrown in. She sat behind the two pilots, one of them was Vice, he sat in the co-pilots seat and he was smiling at his deeds. He laughed with the pilot, speaking in what Skye assumed was Cardassian.

The container she had held, was between them both, they had ripped it from her when she was onboard.

The ship was small, and she guessed it was one of the war birds that had attacked them before. She sat on her behind on the rough floor, leaning against a wall in the back. She had been locked in behind a force field, and she couldn't reach anything important, or anything that wasn't important either. Her tools were gone, Vice had ripped them off when he first grabbed her, so she assumed that they lay somewhere on deck 9, near the cargo bay.

She could see some through the front window, but only as much to tell that they were at warp, heading somewhere, most probably away from Enterprise.

Pulling up her legs to her chest, Skye hugged them and rested her head on her knees. Closing her mind, she hoped to shut out the thoughts of her terrible future.

A future without Spock.

---

Spock felt that he was walking in a thick fog, his mind slow and grey. The colors of his mind had disappeared the second Skye's mind had been disconnected from his.

Sitting in his room in absolute darkness, he tried to find the faint threads of Skye's conscious, just to feel for certain that she was there, or if she had perished.

After drifting in a deep black void, with no beginning or end, Spock felt something tickle down his back, a faint whisper and something familiar.

Turning around, he spotted a thread, just one, shining brightly in the darkness. It was thin as a strand of hair, but it was there. Reaching out his hand slowly, he waited and after a long moment, the tiny thread reacted and slowly searched for Spock.

With the first touch, he felt her once more, though he could not tell how she felt; only that she was alive, and that was good enough for him, for now. The thread wrapped itself around Spock's fingers, then his hand and up over his arm, around his neck and torso. Until it met with one of the threads from Spock's heart and they connected and linked together, melting to one thread.

He now felt that this was one of Skye's heart-threads, and one of the strongest. Spock let more of his own threads link with hers, strengthening it, caring for it. He sent more of his own to where her thread had come from, hoping to find more eventually. Now he must find her, with the help of his friends.

He knew what that container held, and it was very important for Star Fleet to act upon this threat.

---

"The second they were gone, the whole flock of birds cloaked and went to warp." Scotty sighed and shook his head. "It'll be hard to find them."

"Just try, do whatever it takes." Kirk slumped down into his chair in the ready-room, pulling his hand over his face.

They had been drifting in space for over an hour now, as one last bomb in engineering had gone off, cutting off main-power and causing the auxiliary relay control to short out. They would get the power back online in less than twenty minutes, but it might be too late anyhow.

The door opened and Spock stepped in.

"How are you doing?" Kirk asked, concerned for his friend.

"I am functioning, and I know that she is alive. I have felt her."

"Thank god for that." Kirk smiled relieved when he heard Spock inform him about Skye's condition.

Scotty looked between his two friends; obviously they knew something he didn't.

"Care to fill me in?"

"It's up to you Spock. But I think the whole thing will be out soon anyway."

Spock sighed and turned to Scotty.

"Li- Skye and I are bond-mates."

"Oh… Ah see." Scotty nodded to him, surprise evident in his eyes. He usually knew the most about his lads and lassies, but this time his sharp eyes had missed the connection between the Commander and his charge. "So this whole 'Ah 'ave felt her' means that ya are connected somehow?"

"Yes, Vulcan bonding is a bond between the mind and soul, linking the mates together."

"Ya can't use tha' like some sort of 'homing beacon' then? To feel where she is?"

"Possible, but not yet, as our bond was somehow detached when she was transported away, I am in this moment trying to establish that link again, but it will take time, and several hours of meditation." Spock almost sighed, but Mr. Scott had given him some hope in finding her. If they could be linked so they could communicate, then Skye might be able to give them a heading.

"Keep working on that, Spock, it's the only thing we have now." Kirk sighed even deeper. "Do we know what that container she had contained?"

"Yes, she gave me the number of said item, and it is her cloaking device." Spock informed them. "They need her to open the container, and to get help with building their own devices."

"Great. Tell M'Ress to contact Star Command, and inform them of the kidnapping and the abduction of the latest gizmo."

"As you wish."

"Not you Spock, Scotty, do ya mind?"

"Aye, then I'll head down and continue with me miracles." He left and the door hissed close.

Kirk looked at Spock, and as usual, his expression did not reveal anything, but Kirk thought he saw sadness in the Vulcan's eyes. He rose and sat down next to Spock, on his left.

"So, how are you really holding up?"

"I function, but that is all I can do." Spock closed his eyes and felt if he had found more threads from Skye, he had not.

Kirk didn't know what to do. He was at a loss, as he could not understand the complexities of a Vulcan mating bond, and not one where the mates where supposedly each other's match. When he had seen Lieutenant Archer fight the Vulcan female, he had only seen a glimpse of the passion she held for Spock.

This time, Kirk knew that he should not emotionally compromise Spock, not again. As this time he needed his first officer to help him find both Skye and the device, before it was duplicated.

"We'll find her Spock, I promise you." He said fervently.

"If we do not…"

Kirk took a hold of his friend's shoulders, shook him and looked him straight in the eye.

"We will."

"If we do not find her, I will eventually perish with her." He said, his voice cracking at the thought of finding Skye beyond salvation.

The limitless possibilities their bond had opened for both of them had been ripped away, and he felt like when he witnessed the fall of his mother. Part of him had wished to go with her, and now a part of him had a wish to die if Skye was not returned to him. A part of him was already dying from the loss of her.

---

She had been pushed, pulled and manhandled since they had docked with 'Home'. They had gone through some corridors, walked around several corners, taken three rides with three different lifts and just walked for ages, until they came to a rather nice area of the ship.

They opened a door and pushed her in rather roughly, making Skye stumble into the room.

Looking around, she saw a big window, and outside was a dark planet, and far beyond it, there was a big beautiful nebula. It was a myriad of blue colors; navy, sapphire, cerulean, azure…

The Azure Nebula!

It was near the Klingon border! She knew where she was now. If only she could…

"Ah, I see you have arrived, Lieutenant."

A voice startled her and she turned around swiftly, moving closer to the wall, like the trapped animal she was.

"Don't be alarmed, I mean you no harm."

He spoke with almost friendliness in his voice, but his eyes spoke of anger and impatience. He walked with confidence to sit behind a desk she had not noticed until now. He was a big man, with lots of muscles, though he was not overly muscular, just enough to show off his strength.

He wore a dark uniform, a triangular black chest piece covering his front, protecting him from frontal attacks. Under it he wore a large tunic in a dark green/grey color. And his pants were black, and seemed to be of almost the same material as her pants.

"If you meant me no harm, then you wouldn't have brought me here. Return me to my ship." She said, putting up a strong front, hoping it would give her more confidence.

He chuckled and sat down.

"I would return you, but I need something from you first." He pressed a button on his console and the door opened and a guard entered with the container from Enterprise they had taken with them. Behind the guard came another Cardassian male, though he was dressed in finer amour than the guard and almost as nice as the leader.

"Hello, Archer…" He grinned and leered at her.

Skye narrowed her eyes a bit and then she saw that underneath the Cardassian ridges and grey skin color was…

"Vice?"

"Yes and no. Vice was my human name, but now when I'm back to being who I really am, thanks to some genetic engineering, you can call me Damicer." He bowed to her, as if he presented himself to her for the first time. "And you have met my master, the great Kel Dech'Mar."

"So, little one, can you open the container for us?" Kel smiled wickedly and pointed to said item standing on a table.

Skye shook her head in the negative and backed away some more. If possible, she would deny them what they wanted as long as she could, or at least until Star Fleet came for her.

"Why you…" Damicer began to walk to her, but Kel stopped him.

"Put her in the 'guest-quarters' and get her some food. We'll wait. Star Fleet cannot find us, nor are they allowed in our territory." He grinned. "So we have plenty of time…"

---

After twenty minutes Skye could see rather well in her dark cell. It was dark, but it was dry and not a damp cold cell as she had first feared. She sat on a bench and had wrapped a thin blanket around her rather loosely, which they had been kind enough to leave with her.

She had a bottle of water and a slice of some dark bread, nothing more. They seemed to want her to feel like no one would ever rescue her. But Skye knew Spock would kill to have her back safe on the Enterprise.

Looking to the door, it was steel enforced with a powerful force-field; she could not get through there, unless she had a laser or a phaser gun.

Sighing, she tried to block out everything, closing her eyes and seeing if she could find Spock. She had not felt him since she had been teleported away from her ship.

It took a while, but soon she saw herself standing in a black void, and then she stood there, looking around and then down on her chest. Several threads were hanging from her heart, dropping down on the black floor beneath her, hanging there without a life, but one single thread had reached out to somewhere in the void, and somewhere where that thread ended, there was Spock waiting for her. She could feel a tiny part of him, but only enough to know he was alive.

Gently, Skye took hold of the thread that disappeared in the black void, and began to walk slowly to try and find Spock.

---

Spock was sitting by his station on the bridge, working on possible routes and hideouts where the Cardassians could have gone to. And the computer was currently working on to see if the Cardassian leader, which they presumed he was, had a record in Star Fleet's surveillance and a more in-depth file was being made on Damien Vice.

Suddenly Spock felt something tug at his mind and heart, a slight movement from the thread he had found earlier. He got up quickly and walked up to Kirk.

"I must leave, Captain."

Kirk looked suspiciously on his first officer.

"Do you feel something, Spock?"

He nodded.

"Yes, I believe she is currently trying to find me."

"Go; report back to me when you know more."

Spock left and almost jogged back to his quarters. He ordered the light to be dim; he lit several candles and sat down on the floor, closed his eyes and focused on the black void of his mind.

---

In front of her, she saw several objects glimmering, seemingly crawling along on her heart-thread towards her. As they got closer, she stopped and waited.

A moment later, there were at least a dozen threads surrounding her, almost curious of her, until one of them inched closer and looked at her. Then suddenly it seemed to jump of excitement and wrapped around her waist gently, settling down as if it had finally found her.

The other threads followed suit and wrapped around her body, and they started to seep into her skin, melding with her.

It was Spock.

Skye smiled and started to walk once more. After a few more minutes she saw a much larger object in the distance.

Skye began to jog, and then run as she came closer.

More threads came from the distance, attaching them on her, mending themselves and her. At last she saw him, her life-mate; her husband. And even though she knew they were separated physically, she would never be separated mentally. They would be bonded for eternity.

'_T'hy'la…'_ He whispered and opened his arms for her.

Skye slipped into his embrace and held him so close she could. He did the same, and buried his nose in her neck, inhaling her sweet scent he remembered and missed.

Around them, the bond established, the threads found their mates and connected once more, never to be parted.

'_I'm scared Spock. I want to be with you.'_

'_I know, but we shall always be one, connected in mind and thought.'_ He met her teary gaze and kissed her softly.

'_Have they done anything to you?"_ He asked with concern in his voice.

'_No, just pushed me around. They want me to give them my invention, but I have refused, and then they threw me in a cell.'_ She tried to get closer to Spock, seeking comfort from him and his presence.

'_Skye, do you know where in space you are being held? We can't find their 'Home', their warp-trail ends in mid-flight.'_

'_Yes, I recognized a nebula nearby.'_

'_Let that memory surface and vision it here, in front of us.'_

Skye nodded and thought back to when she had first seen the Azure Nebula in Kel's office. Spock saw how a colorful mess appeared in the black void, it swirled and moved around, until he saw a window of the ship she was on, the window she had been looking out through. He saw the myriad of blue, the Azure Nebula, and between it and the ship was a dark planet or planetoid.

Committing to his memory, the distance from the ship to the planet and from the planet to the nebula, he was certain he could calculate where 'Home' was. Skye would soon be back with him.

'_I will find you, Skye. We will come after you, I swear…'_

Suddenly, a noise was heard, and it was from the door to her cell. Someone was coming to see her.

'_Go back; I will be with you in your mind. I won't leave you.'_

Skye nodded, closed her eyes and when she opened them, she was in her cell again, but this time, she wasn't alone. She had Spock in her, assuring her that she would not be harmed.

The door swung open and Damien, no Damicer, stood there, looking at her with dark eyes.

"Hello again." He smiled wickedly and stepped closer. Skye noticed that he was alone; the guard she had seen when she arrived was gone.

"What do you want?" She hissed and looked at him suspiciously.

"To see if I can try and convince you to join us, among other things…" He licked his lips and his dark eyes glimmered as he slowly came closer to Skye.

---

**Heheehe…**

**Evil.**

**What will happen to Skye? What will Damien, no Damicer do? Will the Enterprise be repaired in time? Can they find her?**

**Stay tuned.**

**And send me more plot!**

**Lunatic.**


	10. AUTHORS NOTE!

Hello all my faithful readers!

I am sorry I haven't updated for over a month, but hopefully next chapter will be up this coming week.

I have been quite busy with both work and my lessons in 'how to drive a car properly'.

And I must say I am very happy for the sweet messages I have gotten during my absence. Love you guys (you know who you are)

But I am also sad for a few messages I have received from a few of you, telling me to speed up and write faster, because you are beginning to lose interest in my story due to the lack of frequent updates.

Sure, I am anxious to read the continuation of my favorite fanfics, but I know that many authors don't have the same time to write as they/I do in the summer. When the holidays are over, inspiration is somewhat hard to be found.

So I urge you, and many other authors out there too, to be patient with us, since we don't want to give you something bad to read when we update. Some parts do take long time to write, it doesn't work at once, and I have deleted much of my chapters before I am happy with posting it for you to see.

Time to write some good stuff.

Have a great evening.

Lunatic.


End file.
